This Is His Time. A Time For Giving | Word from the Shepherd No. 154
32nd Ordinary Sunday B
1Kg.17:10-16; Heb.9:24-28; Mk. 12:41-44
Marquis de Lafayette was a French officer who provided invaluable assistance to George Washington and the struggling American army. After the war was over, he returned to France and resumed his life as a farmer of many estates.
In 1783, the harvest was a terrible one, and there were many who suffered as a result.
Lafayette’s farms were unaffected by the devastating crop failures. One of his workers offered what seemed to be good advice to Lafayette, “The bad harvest has raised the price of wheat. This is the time to sell.” After thinking about the hungry peasants in the surrounding villages, Lafayette disagreed and said, “No, this is the time to give.”
During the pandemic, many suffered, lost their livelihood and their sanity. But there were those who prospered and profiteered on the plight of the people. It was windfall versus misfortune times. We had a choice to reap big or give generously. Some preferred to hoard. Others opted to give. But there were many who went in, with an attitude that ‘we will do what we can do and let God multiply our resources’. These were the responses that are on records.
Every opportunity, every event is a God-given moment for something big.
- God always invites individuals to participate in life’s miracles. In Kings, Elijah invited the widow with the little, to share and be generous, and see the bigness of God’s heart. Neither the jar of meal nor oil was emptied.
- God always sees our giving whether it is out of our plenty or poverty; giving our loose change or our everything. Jesus watched, saw and picked out the poor widow’s giving as
- God always opens a way for big things to happen. God in Jesus, the High Priest, appears as the one presence, the one sacrifice and the one saviour, to open a way to God’s masterplan.
What is our attitude to the grace moments or the little openings that come our way?
- Do you see your giving as becoming poorer or as giving your everything, your first fruits, your best?
- Do you see the invitations of God to be part of His saving work? That God is providing small openings to a bigger event?
- Do you have the faith and courage to give your last cent? Do you practise offering the first fruits of your labour or giving God the leftover?
The temptation is to view my earnings as “my money”, the other resources and even time, as “my own” or wait for “big opportunities” while missing out on the unimpressive, small something. For many, time is a precious resource, and our days are filled with conscious and unconscious choices about how to use the time God has given us. In reality I am called to give what I have with the awareness that God will do the impressive, miraculous work. I may one day be called to do something on a grand scale, but any success that results will not be because I am self-sufficient, it will be because God is my sufficiency.
This Is His Time. A Time To Give The Best.
