“Overflow the Gifts Given to You” by Beth
DeCristofaro
Brothers
and sisters: Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one
another and forgiving one another if one has a grievance against another; as
the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:12-14)
"Stop
judging, and you will not be judged. Stop condemning, and you will not be
condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to
you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be
poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will, in return,
be measured out to you." (Luke 16:37-38)
Piety
Lord, I
thank you for the graces of this day, for the people I could help and those who
support me. Forgive my neglect of loving you and my neighbor and grant peace of
mind and health of body to all dear to me and peace to our world. Amen (Sacred Space; https://www.sacredspace.ie/apostleship)
Study
Dragons
mythically seek out treasure (and cattle and helpless maidens) to plunder, hide
and guard. Heroes slew dragons to rescue
the countryside; think of the many illustrations of St. George. There is a delightfully depicted battle with
the vicious dragon which terrorized local villages in the movie The Hobbit
Jesus
is quite clear. We are to share our
God-given gifts because we didn't earn them for ourselves. We can, indeed, become like dragons when we
hoard our treasures. With caution we
steward our possessions, attitudes, opinions, approaches to people and the like
lest we too become secretive and harsh, guarding rather than loving. Even when standing up for the truth or
subjected to abuse, Jesus reminds us to stand fast as his sister or brother
loving other sisters and brothers.
Jesus'
warning brings to mind the endless flour given to a starving widow: Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid.
Go and do as you have said. But first, make me a little cake and bring it to
me. Afterward, you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the
LORD, the God of Israel says: The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug
of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth." (1
Kings 17:13-14) God bestowed this gift,
and the widow shared to the benefit of her family and the prophet.
Letting
go of our hoard of treasures is difficult and painful. We hold onto grudges, judgments, hurts, envy,
hidden addictions or habits, rituals and formalities and of course belongings
because they are familiar and fill places within us that are restless,
empty. But we free ourselves to the
overflow of grace when we open our hands and allow God's dispersal of the
hoard. Admitting to the dragonish
tendencies we harbor is an enormous leap of faith and trust. Jesus tells us that we are conduits of God's
beneficence – God's treasure - and that we will experience it's overflowing if
we pass it on to those in need, including ourselves. Jesus assures us that he
is there when we do so, following him rather than our serpentine
self-indulgences.
Action
How often
do I act out of hoarding what is mine rather than being aware of God's abundant
graces flowing through me to another?
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