Partakers in the Task of Spreading the Good News (Saturday, Week 32, Year 2)

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The theme of generosity runs through the first reading (cf. 3 John 5-8) and the gospel (Luke 18:1-8). The first thing to note is that generosity is an act of love which is the greatest of all commandments and the summary of the teachings of Jesus. In Psalm 112, the Psalmist says that “blessed is the person who fears the Lord”. But which other way can we most practically show that we fear God if we don’t strive to keep the greatest of God’s commandments? In Psalm 112:5, the Psalmist further says that “it goes well for the person who deals generously and lends”.

St John wrote his letters (1st, 2nd and 3rd) at a very old age. As he prepared to leave the scene, he dished out few words in his letters which he considered very important. His major piece of advice is that we keep the commandments by loving one and another. And one of the ways in which we can express this love is supporting those who spread the message of love. The gospel is a message of love, a testimony of God’s love amongst his people. By baptismal configuration, we have been made evangelizers: those who must spread the gospel message, not only by words of mouth, but also in kind. And that is why we contribute for the growth of the church and for the spreading of the good news. There are many ways of preaching the gospel: by speaking about the gospel, by living the gospel and by supporting those who speak about the gospel. The last two categories of preachers are what we call the silent preachers. Many spread the gospel by giving: contributing their own widow’s mite for the support and training of seminarians and priests, for the building of a place of worship, for charity and so on. St John tells us that those who preach the gospel have set out for the sake of God; so we ought to support such people, so that all of us may be fellow workers in the truth. 

Generosity is an act of faith, an act that is propelled by faith: the kind of faith that was expressed by the poor widow in the gospel who never accepted “NO” for an answer. She persisted in making her requests, and at the end of the day her request was granted. It is only by faith that we can know that it goes well for the person who deals generously and lends. It is only by faith that we can persist in giving generously to the poor, to the cause of the good news. Even when things are not happening as we expect, God is taking note of what we do for His sake and He must fulfil His promises in ways that we may not even think of.

No matter our state in life (whether as priests, religious and laypeople), no matter the condition in which we may find ourselves (poor, rich and of average endowment), we have it as a duty to be generous, to lend and give especially to the poor: not just money, but our time, our smiles, our words of consolation, our very selves and so on. In these ways, we can as well become bona-fide partakers in the task of spreading the gospel message


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