GRATITUDE, GUILT AND GIVING - The 3 sensibilities provoked!
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 19th November, 2017
This Sunday is commemorated as World Day of the Poor, heeding to the request of Pope Francis at the end of the Year of Mercy, calling us to keep alive the sensibilities that were provoked during reflections of that entire year! Here this Sunday's Word brings home to us the same sensibilities and we shall dwell on them in 3Gs.
Gratitude - because what I have is given by God!
The parable that Jesus narrates speaks of each one having what was given them by the King and what they do with that is what the story is all about. Whatever I have, I have it because it is given by God. You may protest - no, I earned it, I merited it...could be. But the opportunity, the contacts, the success...do all have it? If I had it, I was more fortunate than so many. Without giving into a boisterous 'theology of prosperity', I need to admit that if I am blessed with comforts, with conveniences that many do not have today, I have to be grateful. When I complain, I cannot be grateful. We know of that famous saying - I complained of not having shoes until that day when I found one not having his legs! Gratitude is one important sensibility that we are called to possess - Gratitude is a sign that I acknowledge what I have received and I realise the value of what I have received. The last man was not grateful, he was afraid, lazy and crooked and that is why what he received did not fructify.
Guilt - because what I have is not only mine!
Some may not like this word used here - I am sure! It is not even to alliterate with the G's that I chose this as the second sensibility but with a lot of consciousness. Pope Francis when he invites the world to observe this day as World Day of the Poor - do you think he is saying, now all of us rich get together and pool in some money to give to the poor? No! He is raising a big question - why are they poor? At times I feel so, when I travel around, when I encounter poor people with nothing to eat or nothing to wear or nowhere to stay! I feel guilty of the well pressed clothes that I wear, of the well presented recipes that I enjoy, the well planned travels I make, the well guarded house that I live in. Am I going to leave all these and go to the streets - it may not happen! But that little feeling of uneasiness within me, that has to be there. That uneasiness drove Francis of Assisi to sanctity; that uneasiness dragged Mother Teresa out of the confines of her convent to the peripheries of the world. I don't wish to soften the word to 'being sensitive' or to 'being aware'...it is being guilty! I don't want to get into poetic discussions like. 'everyone is poor is some way' and so on. It should pain me to see people poor; it should pain me to see persons suffer. The world today has to feel that guilt of having pushed its children to poverty and misery. When that third servant failed to be fruitful, the worst fact was not that he was not fruitful, but he was not even guilty about it. That was the most miserable fact. The king just could not digest that!
Giving - because that is why I have!
If I have anything, it is a clear sign that I am called to give! That is what a Christian life should be - Christian life and hoarding wealth for its own sake cannot go together! Oh what a statement that is to make - I am aware of it. But that is the fact. I cannot say, God has blessed me and therefore I am going to be happy! Yes I am happy with the blessing - but I am given to give! The beautiful philosophy of Stewardship that God has been insisting on right from creation, has widely been forgotten, negated and dumped down the drains. How can I not give when I know someone needs it and I have it. To add to that, I have it more than I need! In a country like India for an instance, or wherever in the world, we can see the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer - can things remain the same? How long are we going to be happy collecting something from somewhere and giving it elsewhere? Giving has to be a duty! Giving has to be our essence! Giving has to be our being! I should give, if I want to be seen as a child of God, because God gives.
Not merely in words...in deeds let us show our conviction to eradicate poverty. Not merely in deeds...but in convictions let us challenge the world against poverty. Not merely in convictions... but in our solidarity and integrity let us get down to fight for justice that every child of God has what he or she needs!
