Beautiful are the words of
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts
Giving is blessed because through it we share what we own with the others or rather with God, not only when we give to the but also when we give the needy; for the Lord says, “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me.” (Mt 25:35-46)
The Lord then explained: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
So, whatever we give to the needy is actually given to the Lord, even a visit to a sick or a prisoner.
Giving is extending beyond the self towards the others.
The introvert keeps himself away from others and neither take nor give, whereas the selfish likes always to receive and not give. Associable person receives and gives, but a loving and sacrificing person gives continually, giving priority to the others.
Such a loving and sacrificing person takes from his own and gives the others.
The virtue of giving is always mingled with self-denial, since the self takes the last place and gives priority to the others. The widow of Zarepath of Sidon is an example: In the days of famine she gave Elijah the Prophet the handful of flour and the little oil in the jar which she had, therefore God blessed her house greatly (1 kgs 17:11-16)
The widow who put in the treasury two mites in another example. Therefore the Lord blessed her more than all the others who gave out of their abundance; because she gave out of her poverty all the livelihood she had (Lk 21:4).
It is the same principle of preferring the others to oneself. This leads us to an important conclusion, that: God looks to the depth of giving, not to the quantity.
The depth appears in the connection between giving and love, when a person loves to give and loves the person to whom one gives. You can benefit spiritually when you give without murmuring, grumbling, or compulsion, but rather with feelings of satisfaction and pleasure; for the Scripture says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)
You give because you love the person to whom you give, and this love appears in the way you treat him. The needy will feel such love and rejoices at it more than rejoicing at what he receives, for he feels that giving is not mere formality but rather sharing and emotions. Your happiness is not less; for like a mother feels happy before giving her child, and while giving, and for his being happy, you also will have the same feeling.
An example from the Scripture is the rejoicing of the people when offering for building the temple in the days of David the Prophet.
The people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly to the Lord, and King David also rejoiced greatly. Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly, and said, “Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You … all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house … is all Your own.” (1 Chr 29:9,14,16).
Beautiful indeed are the words, “Of Your own we have given you.”
We do not own anything, and we ought to say with Job the Righteous, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb.” (Job 1:21) “The Lord gave.” And with David we ought to say, “All things come from You.” It is humbleness indeed that God, the source of all riches, takes from us!! He gives us a chance to express our feelings, like a father accepting a present from his son as an expression of love although the son buys it from the father’s money. God owns the earth and all its fullness (Ps 24:1), yet, out of His love, He likes to give us a share in caring after His house and children, and He rewards us for that.
He gives us what we need to give, then rewards us for what we gave, training us by all this on giving.
He gives us life and existence, then says, “Every week of your life, give Me one day out of it” It is the Lord’s Day. And from the money I give you, give Me the titles. In all this we ought to say, “You, O Lord, give us and them, and you give us the love of giving.”
Give me, O Lord, health and strength, and I shall serve You with them.
Whenever I labor or sacrifice myself in the ministry, I shall not consider that I have given; for the health, the love, the time I spend in the ministry, all are from You. I myself am from You, for You gave me existence and You gave me the word which I may say in the ministry.
Therefore, giving should be without boasting, neither with the tongue, nor with the feelings of the heart and mind. Remember the words of the apostle, “If you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” ( 1Cor 4 : 7) So, if we have received all that we give from the Lord, any boasting will be vain.
Therefore God commanded us to give in secret.
He said, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven,” “Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” (Mt 6 : 1,4) This shall apply even to oneself, Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” (Mr 6:3)
Do not mention, remember, or even count what you have given, but try to forget them all lest you be fought by vain glory or receive all your good things on earth.
It is said that St. Milania at the beginning of her spiritual life, before becoming a nun, used to offer much to the monasteries and to the monks. And once she put five hundred pieces of gold in a sack and gave it to St. Bemwa for the monks in the wilderness. The Saint gave the sack to his disciple to distribute its contents among the monks. So, St. Milania wondered that he had not opened it to know what was in it, but the Saint said: “You have offered the money to God, and He know how much is it.” It was a lesson to Milania.
Giving should also be with liberality.
The Scripture says, “He who gives, with liberality,” “Be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,” “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully,” “With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Rom 12:8; 1 Tim 6:18; 2 Cor 9:6; Lk 6:38)
It is not then enough to give, but one ought to be generous in giving.
We have a beautiful example in the Scripture: Araunah the Jebusite. When king David wanted to buy the threshing floor from him to build an altar to the Lord, Araunah wanted to offer it free with all that is in it : The oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing implements, and the yokes of the oxen for wood. But David refused and insisted to pay for them. Both of them wanted to give with liberality and pleasure.
We also remember our father Abraham when three men visited him, and what he did.
He said to our mother Sarah, “Quickly, made ready three measures of fine meal … and make cakes.” Then he ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. Again he took butter and milk and the calf and set before the guests. As all this for three men?! How generous was our father Abraham! He was happy to receive those guests, so he wanted everybody to share with them (Gen 17:6-8).
According to our liberality in giving God deals with us.
He Said, “Give, and it will be given to you : good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom,” “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse… and try Me now in this … if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it,” “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all you increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow…” (Lk 6:38; Mal 3:10; Prov 3:9)
Among the verses that encourage liberality in giving are:
“Go, sell what you have and give to the poor,” (Mt 19:21)
And also: “Sell what you have and give alms,” “Give to everyone who asks of you …,” “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” (Lk 12:33; 6:30; 3:11)
Other beautiful aspects of giving are :
· Giving without being asked, as our heavenly Father do towards us, and as the parents do to their children. Notice what the others want and do not wait till they ask you.
· Do not postpone, for tarrying may cause harm to the needy. Remember the words of the Scripture, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so,. Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back… where you have it with you.” (Prov 3:27, 28)
Train yourself to give the best you have.
Some may give only torn or old clothes or things which they do not like. Let them know that they offer such things to Christ in those persons. Remember Abel the Righteous, how he gave the Lord of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, that is, the best, and how the Lord respected him and his offering!
We have wonderful examples of giving in history:
So many are the stories of giving told about St. Abram, the bishop of Fayoum, and St. Sarabamoon the veiled, the bishop of Menoufeya. Some Saint called John sold everything and gave to the poor, and when he found nothing to give he sold himself as a slave and gave the price to the poor! Also St. Serapion gave his garment to a poor man and went away naked, then he sold his Bible and gave its price to the poor. When his disciple wondered at this, he said to him: The Bible kept saying to me, sell everything and give to the poor, and because I have nothing else I sold it. And in the apostolic era all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need (Acts 4:34, 35). What about us?!
Let us train ourselves in giving that we may grow in it also.
Let us see how we can make God share us our money, but in a separate article. God willing.