I heard a story about an old Dominican who died
recently. Maurice Fearan was his name. He was giving a
retreat in Kashmir (India) in a place called Shrinagar beside the
Dall lake. It is 7000 feet above sea level and a big tourist
attraction; very beautiful. So many people came to the retreat
that they could not give him accommodation where the retreat was being
held. Instead they put him on one of the tourist boats. So each
evening after the retreat he would go back to the tourist boat, have
a light meal and sleep there.
One evening when he was eating, a young lady from
Argentina joined him. While they were chatting a storm began to
blow up on the lake and it started to come towards them.
Eventually there were flashes of lightening near them and they were
both getting nervous, especially since they were on water. Then
she leaned towards him and said, ‘Father, I’d like to go to
confession. But before I go to confession I want to tell you
something.’ And then she said, ‘Father I don’t
believe in hell.’ Maurice said, ‘Why don’t you?’ She said, ‘I am an only child and my father loves me
completely and I know that no matter what I do, my father would never
reject me. Sometimes he may do things which embarrass me, but I
could never do anything which would embarrass him. No matter
what I do he would never reject me. And so I don’t believe
God would ever reject me either.’ Isn’t that powerful?
I think that is the approach we should take too.
I think we often ‘pray to small’ as you might
say. We are afraid that we can’t have the very best, or that
God might frown on us if we expect too much. And yet Jesus
taught the very opposite. ‘How many of you would give your
child a snake if he asked for a fish; or a stone if he asked for
bread?’ And then he said, ‘If you who are evil know how to
give good things to your children, how much more will the heavenly
Father look after you?’ It is a wonderful teaching and
probably one that we should reflect on more. The Father wants
to give us everything. He wants the very best for us always.
In the first reading, God is showing us never to be
afraid, because if we trust in his word He will never let us down.
The woman had almost nothing left and the prophet Elijah asked her to
share it. She was afraid, but Elijah said, ‘Trust in the word
of God and you will be alright.’ So she did trust him and she
was alright.
God invites us to do the same. We are so often
afraid that we won’t be able to manage and yet the Lord keeps
telling us, ‘Trust in me and I will look after your every need.’
And He does. ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to you as well.’
Something that the Lord has taught me as a priest is
never to be afraid to give away money to people who need it. I
don’t just mean people who come to the door asking for money, but
people I come across who I know are in trouble. They are the
ones who rarely ask, but the Lord often lets me see their need.
People often give me money as a priest and I just see it as part of
my work to pass it on whenever the Lord shows me such need. But
I have always found that every time I have given away money,
sometimes reluctantly as I feel maybe it’s too much or that I might
be stuck, within 24 hours I will be given the money back by someone
else and usually more. This has happened to me so many times
that I always believe it is God’s way of teaching me to trust him.
He looks after all our needs and He will never be outdone in
generosity.
In the Gospel today Jesus sees the poor woman
putting in what seemed to be a very small amount. But he knew
it was everything she had. God sees what we do and He
constantly encourages us to be generous, especially with those who
are in need. Remember God will never be outdone in generosity.
If we are generous, God will be far more generous. Our Father in heaven is the Lord of all the universe and He
has lots of money, so let us never be afraid.
No comments:
Post a Comment