In Giving that We Receive

"If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land" (Is. 58:10-11a).

I believe it is in our nature - fallen human nature - that we try to make sure we are fed, clothed, and well before we really embark on acts of kindness and charity.  It is not unnatural. In fact I think it is common.  Today I met up with a former colleague of mine for lunch and while driving back she commented that she has come to realize more and more how selfish she really is. "I think there is a selfish strain in all of us.  I think it is part of our human nature."  Yes, there is selfishness in our human hearts.  But God wants to give us a heart that can conquer that.  While rebuking His disciples, Jesus said that they were thinking as human thinks and not as God thinks.  Elsewhere we are told that humans looks only on the surface but that God looks into the heart.  We are made to look into the heart of man.  We are made to see and think how God sees and thinks.  We are made not only to look at the poor but to peer into the depths of poverty and human suffering and become poor just as God was made man and dwelt among the poorest of the poor.  God emptied Himself, God gave Himself to us.  Now, we must empty ourselves and give all of ourselves, and when we do, only then will we be able to receive fully the graces, the love, joy, and peace that the Father wants to give to us.  Only a heart emptied of our own selfish wants and desires will be able to receive what will nurture and sustain us.  It is only in giving that we receive.

We must give even when we seemingly have nothing else to give.  God will take the little that we are willing to give and make it more than enough.  God will turn our parched lands into bountiful harvests.  When we bestow our bread (give what we have and can) on the hungry and the afflicted God will lift the darkness that clouds our lives and He promises to stand by our side, and whatever He promises He will do.

Father, remove my selfish heart and give me a selfless heart.  Teach me to think and do as you think and do.  Grant me humility that I may be emptied, so that the graces you wish to give to my may be poured into my heart.  Teach me that it is only in giving that I may receive.   

Miracle of the Bread and Fish by Giovanni Lanfranco

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