Give without expecting any return

Fr. Roy Cimagala

THIS is how we should give if we want to follow the example of Christ. We have to give to others not only things but also our own selves without expecting any recognition nor any reward.

This was clearly taught by Christ when he said that when we hold a banquet, we should not invite those who can invite us in return, but rather those—“the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind”—who are unable to invite us in return. (cfr Lk 14,12-14)

“Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you,” he said, “for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (cfr Lk 14,12-14) Let’s always keep these words of Christ that assure us of what we are going to receive in heaven if we are generous with others here on earth.

We have to make an effort, always asking, of course, for the grace of God first of all, so that we can learn to assume this attitude with respect to our self-giving. In the end, this will make us to be like Christ who gave himself totally to us, including giving his life for our sins.

Let’s remember what he told his disciples: “Freely you have received, freely you have to give.” (Mt 10,8) Gratuitousness should characterize our self-giving to God and to others, just as gratuitousness characterizes God’s love for us. Such gratuitousness will gain us much more than what we give away.

In this regard, we have to do some continuing battle against our unavoidable tendency to be calculating in our self-giving.

Not only do we have to contend with our personal weaknesses in this regard. We also have to contend with a tremendous cultural environment, so prevalent these days, that not only is not conducive to this attitude of Christian generosity but is also hostile to it.

We constantly have to rectify our intentions when we have to give to others—be it things, a service, or matter of attention and affection. This is especially so when our giving is for God. Let’s never forget that God cannot be outdone in generosity.

Remember that episode of the couple Ananias and Sapphira as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. (cfr 5,1-11) They sold a piece of property, but instead of giving the whole proceeds to the apostles, they gave only a part and kept the rest, lying to the Holy Spirit in the process. For this, they met sudden death.

We should see to it that our gestures of self-giving is whole-hearted and is inspired by true love that can only come from the love of God for us. We have to avoid playing games in this regard, for God knows everything and would deal with us the way we deserve.

We have to learn to be truly generous, neither counting the cost nor expecting any return. This obviously is not easy to do, given our wounded human condition. But if we always go to Christ to get inspired by his example and to ask for his grace, we can do it.

The impossible becomes possible!

Everyday, we have to find opportunities to practice and grow in this virtue of generosity, always aware that Christ is always with us and is showing us the way and how to behave and react to any situation we find ourselves in.

So when we find ourselves in some difficulties or are hounded by temptations, let’s never delay in going immediately to him to ask for help and guidance.

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Spreading the true Christmas joy. Thanks be to God, we still celebrate Christmas in our country in a religious way. In an increasingly secularized world, our way of celebrating Christmas indeed stands out.

And our fervent prayer should be that this way of celebration persists till the end of time and, in fact, should be purified and should develop some more in terms of depth and substance.

This means that we continue catechizing and evangelizing others about the true spirit of Christmas, especially the young ones who are now flooded with all sorts of spiritually numbing technological wonders.

Not that this Christmas spirit is incompatible with the new technologies. It is just that we need to make everyone understand that all the advantages our new technologies give us should be inspired by this Christmas spirit for them to be truly good and useful to us. This is always possible, and, in fact, should be done.

Otherwise, these new technologies will pose as a great danger to us, a sweet poison indeed.

When we are in front of a crèche, we can, for example, ask the baby Jesus lying in the manger: “Why are you doing this to us? What’s your purpose? What do you want us to know and learn from your birth?”

For sure, some ideas can come to our mind and can start an intimate conversation in our mind and heart with the God who decided also to become man to save us and to complete his creation of ourselves, converting us into the image and likeness of God and children of his, in spite of our weaknesses, mistakes and sins.

Even if at the beginning of our reflections, the considerations are rather shallow and narrow, we somehow can capture something of the true Christmas spirit and joy that hopefully, if we persist in our reflections, will give us deeper and more complete understanding of Christmas.

Only when we savor the answers to these questions would we understand why we go through the bother of decorating our homes with Christmas items, why we just would feel happy and festive, and willing to give and receive gifts from others, etc.

It’s important that we pause and reflect on the true spirit of Christmas so that we don’t get easily carried away simply by the peripherals of the Christmas season. We have to penetrate the true meaning of Christmas that, in fact, would fill us with great joy and thanksgiving as well as remind us of our duties and responsibilities.

Yes, Christmas is about God determined to complete his creation of ourselves as his image and likeness and children of his.

And not even our mistakes and sins can prevent him from pursuing his divine love for us. The greatness of his love is such that it can tackle the worst evil we can commit. If in the end, we find ourselves not to be with him in heaven, it would not be because of him, but rather because of us.

When we would be inspired by the spirit of Christmas, we would find many reasons to be happy and hopeful. We would find meaning in everything in our life, including the problems, difficulties, mistakes and sins that we may commit. We would feel confident and reassured, especially when we face the unavoidable challenges, trials, difficulties, and mistakes we can commit.

This is how we can generate and spread the true Christmas joy that should be with us all throughout the year. Christmas is not only a season in our life. It should be with us in our whole life.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com