GRATITUDE, GUILT AND GIVING - 3 sensibilities provoked!
November 15, 2026: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
10th World Day of the Poor
Proverbs 31: 10-13,19-20,30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30
10th World Day of the Poor
Proverbs 31: 10-13,19-20,30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30
Today is the tenth commemoration of the World Day of the Poor, instituted at the request of Pope Francis at the end of the Year of Mercy in 2017, reminding us to keep alive the sensibilities that were provoked during reflections of that entire year! Here this Sunday's Word brings home to us those same sensibilities... and we shall dwell on them in terms of 3Gs.
Gratitude - because what I have is given by God!
Guilt - because what I have is not only mine!
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, certainly! It is not even merely to alliterate with the G's that this term is chosen here as the second sensibility but with a lot of consciousness. Pope Francis when he invited the world to observe this day as World Day of the Poor - do you think he was saying, now all of us rich get together and pool in some money to give to the poor? No! He was raising a bigger question - why are there poor? and why are they poor?
At times, when we travel around, when we encounter poor people with nothing to eat or nothing to wear or nowhere to stay... do not we feel guilty of the well pressed clothes that we wear, of the well presented recipes that we enjoy, the well planned travels that we make, at times the well guarded houses that we live in. Are we going to leave all these and go to the streets - no, it may not happen! But that little feeling of uneasiness within us, that needs 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. It would not benefit us, if we wish to soften the word to 'being sensitive' or to 'being aware'... no, it is being guilty!
Let us not get into poetic polemics like. 'everyone is poor is some way' and so on. It should pain each of us, to see people poor; it should pain each of us 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!
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! But that is the fact. One 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? The worst of the scenario, the social organisations and governmental bodies which are to fend of every citizen, are worried serving the purposes of the Corporates and the moneyed! 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 naturally, spontaneously and without a second thought, if I want to be seen as a child of God, because God gives, give abundantly.
"The Lord is the refuge of the poor (Psalm 14:6)," affirms the Holy Father Pope Leo, as a message for this day, this year! The ugliness of poverty and misery that has always been around us today, is gathering more and more flesh in this age - with the technological and digital divide that is creating a further havoc in the humanity. The reminder is that the Lord stands by the poor, by the vulnerable, by the weak, by the oppressed, by those who are exploited and by those who are neglected... each of us has to be mindful of it! We cannot take them for granted!
Listen to these words of Pope Leo, in his message for this day:
"The poor of our day are the forgotten and the marginalized: robbed not only of bread, but also of a voice and a face. May they encounter the Son of God, who draws near to everyone without neglecting anyone. May they encounter him, first and foremost, in those who call themselves Christians. In the Church, his Body, it is Jesus who offers bread and friendship; he brings light and opens a horizon of hope; he calls each person by name and restores dignity to all. Jesus of Nazareth is God’s gift to the poor..." (n.3).
"In Christ, therefore, we are called to become poor and to be a refuge for the poor. The Christian community cannot remain indifferent to the many who today stand at the door but remain invisible to those who are shut within their own walls. The Church, by its very nature, is called to be poor and a refuge for the poor..." (n.4)
No comments:
Post a Comment