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(10th November 2024) Homily for the Thirty -Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

REFLECT: Generosity Generates abundance of blessings...

Dear friends, today we are in the Thirty -Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The liturgy of the word invites us to pay attention on the theme Generosity. Generosity, we all know that it's an act done in giving and sharing willingly and joyfully to the other, without any reserve for oneself. It’s a virtue well appreciated but practiced by a very few individuals. We find today both the people who are generous and are not generous as well. some are half-heartedly generous and some others are whole-heartedly generous and there are still some others not at all generous with an attitude “why me for someone?”

In the world of material and monetary outlooks and benfits, There are different streams of income today to get money. They are like Earned income - you go for work and earn money, you trade your time for money; Business income – you own a business, wherein you make or sell something and get income; Interest income- you get income by giving out your money to someone and get back with interest; Dividend income- you get income from the shareholders of a company; Rental income- you own something and you rent it out and get the income out of it.

True indeed It's an income for one's material possession or benefits but what about the income for the spiritual or virtuous life. Is there anything at all? Yes! The reward or income is an abundance of blessings which material benefits can never quench us  or can never ever give but only God can give. One of such powerful spiritual or virtuous blessing is being generous. God makes us more generous when we are generous to others. God himself becomes generous to us, because he sees the way we share the generosity of God in life. So generosity generates abundance of blessings. That‘s what is the point of importance from the liturgy of the word today. Therefore, based on the liturgy of day, three points of reflection I would like to share with you;

 1. Gentle Generosity:

Generosity requires gentleness. By gentle generosity I mean to be spontaneous and effortless in giving to the other. It's a gentle or soft touch with kindness and compassion we give to the other. In gentle generosity, there is no boastfulness or complaints or arguments. He or she gives or shares without murmuring or any grudge. Because sometimes the request of others could be challenging, or  shocking or irritating. We could Just imagine when we are hungry and we are about to eat and someone asks for what we are waiting to taste. Sometimes we might lose temper and get annoyed or We might give them grudgingly but even in that tensed and unsteady situation if one is gentle in gving things to others generously, be for certain God’s  abundance of blessings would pour forth. That’s what we read in the first reading from the book of First Kings.

Prophet Elijah comes and asks a widow, who has nothing but a little to satisfy her need and her son for the day and depart in peace but Prophet Elijah asks the widow to give first a little water and cake and then they can eat the rest.  We know that widow without any boastfulness or hesitation or anger gives to Prophet Elijah what he asked for. The widow had every chance to be angry because prophet Elijah was asking for what the widow had to fill their hungry stomac only for a day. But she without anger gives the prophet what he asked for. Because, she relied on God for help and she believed that God would help her overcome the situation of hunger and thirst. Perhaps she trusted that God would make her enjoy the abundance of blessings for life. That's what we hear in later part of the first reading that the jar of flour was not spent and jug of oil never ran out.. she enjoyed God’s abundance of blessings for many days. it is because of her generous giving in gentleness.

If we were to be in her place, we would have hurt the person by our words or deeds. We might have even said “I myself don’t have here anything to eat anything, you come and demand.”  But because of her gentle dealing with generosity, she could generate abundance of blessing.. Today many of us are generous but how many are generous in gentleness, giving to others without blame, murmuring and complaining  or arguing or without hateful looks and hurtful words. Let us realise that when we are generous by way of gentleness, kindness and compassion God blesses more out of his generosity. God's generosity has no limits. If God starts giving us, no one could Stop us, because God he is the giver of us all and all the more God loves the gentle and cheerful giver. Let's learn to give to the other without murmuring or any complaints or arguments.

 2.  Gracious and gratuitous Generosity:

Gratuitous means,  it is a free gift bestowed or given without expecting anything in return, granted without claim or merit. So we can call it a gracious or graceful gift of generosity. It is not required of anyone to be generous in such manner but yet they are generous because God’s grace and mercy is plentiful in them. We know that God’s offer of salvation to humanity is an unmerited favour.  it was not needed or necessary for God to offer his only Son for our redemption but he did it for love of us all. That's all. That is the gracious and gratuitous act of God for us through Jesus. This is the act of Jesus’ self-offering. It was not necessary for Jesus to give his life for our sake but he generously offered his life for our gain.  That’s what we heard in the second reading. Jesus does not repeatedly offer sacrifices like the high priests or offer sacrifice with their own blood but Jesus offered sacrifice once and for all, with his own blood giving us salvation and promising us to still save those eagerly waiting for Jesus to come. It was not required for God to send his son or for Jesus to offer himself as a sacrifice on our behalf but Jesus did it for love of God and for love of us. This is the highest form of generosity we can say, expecting nothing in return, giving life freely so that we become partakers in the kingdom of God.

Pope Francis very beautifully makes an appeal for generosity in the following manner;  “Generosity belongs to everyday life; it’s something we should think: ‘How can I be more generous, with the poor, the needy… How can I help more?’ ‘But Father, you know that we can barely get through the month.’ ‘But surely you have at least a couple of coins left over? Think about it: you can be generous with those…’ Consider the little things. For example, look through your room or your wardrobe. How many pairs of shoes do I have? One, two, three, four, fifteen, twenty… Each of us knows. Maybe too many… I knew a monsignor who had 40… But if you have many pairs of shoes, give away half. How many clothes do I not use or use only once a year? This is one way to be generous, to give what we have, and to share.”

Yes, the more we give the more we receive, the more we become generous the more income of blessings in abundance we generate for ourselves. Remember friends, the measure we give will be the measure we get back. If we give generously God will give us generously, if we are stingy or miser in giving, God will deal with us like wise. Today, as  we come across in life, some gently generous persons, greatly generous and graciously generous persons, we ask ourselves in which category do I belong? Am I generous or not? Let’s start this spiritual and virtuous journey of being generous to one another especially those in need and generate for ourselves the abundance of blessings for God.

3. Great Generosity:

Being generous is of course a great thing… because today we have many things, much to accumulate but how many are ready to give and share. Pope Francis aptly considers consurmerism as an enemy because with the consumeristic tendency we buy things and store more than what is required. So in the world of consumerism to be genersous is great I feel.  That’s what we hear in the gospel reading, the two group of people rich and a poor widow. The rich people as usual put in the treasury box the little from the plenty they had but we have a poor widow, out of her poverty has put into the treasury all that she had for her livelihood. She did keep anything for herself. Perhaps she realised or understood that if she gives everything to God and God would greatly bless or give her in abundance. Such was her faith and such was her commitment to God. As a result, Jesus commends her act is greater than the acts of rich, who put money into the treasury. She gave all that she had, believing that God can give her everything. This is what our attitude needs to be in giving ourselves fully to God, for God to take care of us.

Infact, if we look keenly into eyes of God, we would realise that today Jesus does not ask us to give more than what we have but within our limit and capacity whatever we can give to others. Indeed that will be a great act. It is  not how much we give but with what attitude we give matters. The others put in the treasury out of their abundance but this widow put all that she had out of her poverty.  Today, we are rich or poor it does not matter, but with attitude and approach do we give and share with others what we have really matters. So our generosity will be great depending upon the way we give or share with others within the capacity what we have. Today let us pray that we may not say that I don’t have anything to give rather ask oneself what I can give to the other with what I have to make someone happy and joyful.

Looking into the possibilities of our deviation we find that today greed has taken control of humanity. Greed has blinded us to see the needs of brothers and sisters in society. We could perhaps even say that greed has hammered and hampered the growth of generosity in our ways of living. That's why Pope Francis would say, “Greed is not only a form of attachment to money that prevents people from generosity," he said, it can be seen in an exaggerated attachment to even insignificant objects. Objects can become a kind of fetish that is impossible to let go of, reflecting a sort of regression to the state of children who clutch their toy repeating, 'It's mine! It's mine!It is a kind of attachment that "takes away your freedom.” Yes, greed fails us to be generous to God and his people. The moment we realise that the more I give, the more blessings I receive, we will see the hand of God at work in us in manifold ways. Let's entrust everything to God in trust, God would definitely bless us greatly.

To conclude: we read in the letter of St. Paul to 2 Cor 9: 6-8 very beautifully he says, “ whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." So let's be generous in giving to the other what we have, God will bless us in abundance always. May God who is generous in all things, help us to be generous to one another in our world.

RESPOND:

Do I give generously with an act of gentleness without murmuring or complaining?

Do I generously give to the other fully, totally counting on God for all our needs?

Do I give freely to others without expecting anything in return?

Let us generously give to God and to our brothers and sisters in need, God would definitely bless us in abundance at all times. Amen.