Word of Life : October 2008
Posted by: elenahitomi in Chiara Lubich, Daily Food Supplement, Word of Life
“Give
and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed
together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured
into your lap” (Lk 6:38).
Have
you ever received a gift from a friend and then felt
you had to reciprocate — not so much because
you felt obliged to pay the person back, but simply
out of love and gratitude? I’m sure you have.
If
you feel this way, imagine how God must feel, God
who is love himself. He reciprocates every gift that
we give to any neighbor in his name. True Christians
frequently experience this. And each time it is a
surprise. We can never get used to God’s ways.
I
could give you a thousand examples; I could even write
a book on this subject alone. You would see how true
are the words: “…good measure, packed
together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured
into your lap.” God always reciprocates generously.
Here is an example.
Night
had fallen in Rome. In their basement apartment, a
small group of young women who wanted to live the
Gospel were just saying goodnight to one another when
the doorbell rang. Who could it be at that hour? At
the door they found a panicstricken young father.
He was desperate: the following day he and his family
were to be evicted because they were unable to pay
their rent.
The
women looked at one another and then, in silent accord,
went to the cabinet drawer. There they kept what was
left over from their salaries, and in the envelopes
marked “gas,” “electricity,”
and “telephone,” the small deposits they
had set aside to pay these bills. Without a moment’s
hesitation about how they themselves would manage,
they gave all the money to their visitor.
That
night they went to bed very happy, certain that Someone
else would take care of them.
Just
before dawn the phone rang. It was the same man. “I’ve
called a taxi and I’m coming right over!”
Amazed that he should choose to come by taxi, they
awaited him. Then as soon as they saw his face, they
knew something had happened. “Last night, as
soon as I got home, I found out I had received an
inheritance I never dreamed I would get. My heart
told me to give half of it to you.” The amount
he gave them was exactly twice the sum they had generously
given him.
“Give and gifts will be given to you; a good
measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.”
Haven’t you experienced this too? If not, remember
that your gift must be given without any self-interest,
without hoping to get it back, and to whomever asks
for it.
Try
it. Not in order to see if it works, but because you
love God.
You
might be tempted to say: “I have nothing to
give.” Yet that’s not true. If we want
to, each of us will find that we possess endless treasures:
our free time, our love, our smile, our advice, our
peace, our words that might persuade a person who
has, to give to someone who has not…. You might
also say: “I don’t know whom to give to.”
Well, just look around you: don’t you remember
a sick person in the hospital; that widow who is always
lonely; the boy in your class who failed and is so
discouraged; that young man who is sad because he
can’t find a job; your little sister or brother
who needs a helping hand; a friend in prison; that
new person on the job so unsure of herself. In each
of these, Christ is waiting for you.
Put
on that new behavior that comes from the Gospel which
is the mark of a Christian. It is just the opposite
of closemindedness and concern for oneself. Stop putting
your trust in this world’s goods and start relying
on God. This will show your faith in him, which you
will find confirmed by the gifts you will receive.
It
is evident, however, that God does not give as he
does so as to make us rich. He acts in this way so
that many, many other people, seeing the little miracles
that happen to us as a result of our giving, may decide
to do the same.
God
also gives to us because the more we have, the more
we can give to others. He wants us to be administrators
of his goods and see to it that they are distributed
throughout the community around us, so that others
might be able to say about us as they said of the
first Christian community: “There was no needy
person among them…” (Acts 4:34).
Don’t
you think that in this way you too can help to provide
a solid spiritual base for the social change that
the world is waiting for?
“Give and gifts will be given to you.”
When Jesus said these words, undoubtedly he was thinking
first and foremost of the reward we will receive in
heaven. But the reward we receive on this earth is
already a foretaste and a guarantee of our heavenly
reward.
Chiara Lubich
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