32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Have you ever taken a moment to think about your life! Think about what you have gone through in life, your experiences, your frustrations, your struggles, your failures, your victories, your achievements, your joys, your pains etc then ask yourself would I have been able to go through all these without God’s blessings, graces and mercies especially since I am a sinner and have many times in my life abandoned and rejected Him? We are here today not out of our merits but because of God’s generosity and love for us. Generosity seems to be the central theme of today’s readings. In our first reading today from the First Book of Kings 17:10-16, we hear of the generosity of the widow of Zarephath to Prophet Elijah and God’s generosity and blessings on the widow. Today’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 9:24-28 reminds us of the generosity of Jesus Christ in offering Himself on the cross to take away our sins and to bring us salvation. Jesus in today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Mark 12:38-44 extols the generosity of the poor widow who put in two small coins into the treasury from her whole livelihood.
My dear friends in Christ, Generosity is a very important virtue to live out as a disciple of Christ because all we are today and what we have today are all from God’s generosity to us. So what is generosity? Generosity is a state of the heart, and the quality of being kind, understanding, and not selfish. Generosity is the quality of being selfless and giving. Generosity is typically a reference to a person's willingness to give - whether they are giving something concrete or abstract. From these definitions, we can infer that generosity which is the willingness of the heart to give, entails kindness in giving our time, gifts, talents, presence, blessings both spiritually and physically to and for others.
How generous are we as Catholic Christians and as disciples of Christ especially when we think of and appreciate all that God has done for us and continues to do for us? How generous are we with our gifts and talents to help others and to serve God? How generous are we with the blessings given to us by God? How generous are we with our time in assisting or helping other or even serving God in various ministries in the Church? How generous are we with our presence in being there for people who are lonely, bereaved or sick? How generous are we with our prayers for those who need our prayers and those who have no one praying for them?
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded today by our readings to be generous like our Heavenly Father is generous to us. So let us share God’s love with others by being generous to them with our time, with our gifts, with our talents, with our presence, with our prayers and to bless them with the blessings we have received from God, Amen!
