Reflections of a beloved son

" 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...

Maybe sometimes we feel that we do not have much to give.  And so we do not give at all.   Peter and John knew that they themselves did not have much and could not give to the lame man what he was asking for, but they did know they had something else to give: the gift of faith.  In fact what they had to give was much more important and impactful than silver or gold.  What they had to offer seemed useless and impractical to the world - words? faith? "How can that fill my stomach?"  "How can that change my situation right now?" The lame man in the reading today (Acts 3:1-10) begged for alms, looked at Peter and John, and expected to receive something from them.  The Apostles said to him, " Look at us ," and Peter said " I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you ." We are told that the man expected to receive something from them - perhaps what he has been begging for: money.  I can just imagine this man sitting by the gate day ...