In the year 2009, the Gallup Group released a study of the “happiest cities in the United States.” Boulder, Colorado with its beautiful vistas was number one, while Honolulu in Hawaii with its great tropical weather and laid-back lifestyle was number three. Tucked between these two big and beautiful cities was the little town of Holland, Michigan, which came in as number two. Many people were curious about what made little Holland one of the happiest places in the United States.
The answer was that the town had many churches and had a thriving philanthropic culture. People shared what they had with others; they were generous to a fault, especially to those struggling in life. The residents attributed their happiness to their faith and to the generosity in the town.
St. Paul's letter to Corinthians and the Gospel of Matthew address the Biblical principle of giving. It is a principle that is difficult to talk about in the Catholic Church. We just don’t have the right language to talk about it. Offertory and tithing are the two biggest ways we give back to God.
There are different types of prayers in our Church. They include:
The offertory we give in church is a prayer of gratitude or thanksgiving to God for his generosity to us. You look back on your life and you count the many blessings from God that you have enjoyed throughout your life. The offertory we give in church is meant to be a prayer that tells God that I am grateful for all I have been and for all I have received in life.
Tithe is another Christian prayer of gratitude to help advance the work of God, especially for the needy. This type of intentional prayerful giving is what helps the church to keep offering its pastoral services. It is this giving that is used to pay electric bills, to clean up the place, to repair leaking roofs, to buy wine and hosts, to buy flowers, and to ensure the safety of the place. God’s work needs some resources to keep it going. The closing of parishes in the United States is partly a sad dramatization of this reality. Some parishes could barely keep the lights on or repair their leaking roofs because they had no resources.
Today the Lord invites us to challenge ourselves in this area of giving to the work of God. It is not about how much we have; it is about a generous and grateful spirit. We know about the widow of Zarephath, who, in the days of the prophet Elijah, right in the middle of a great famine in Israel, shared the little flour and the little oil she had, and her jar of flour never emptied and her jug of oil never dried throughout the famine. We know about the young man who had only five loaves and two fish who put these in the hands of Jesus and the Lord was able to feed 5,000 people. It is not so much the size we bring before the Lord, rather it is the spirit behind it.
Our giving does not necessarily have to be in terms of money; there are various other ways we can give back to God.
We pray that the Lord renews our spirit of generosity and gratitude to him. We ask the Lord’s Spirit to clarify to us in what ways we can give back to Him. Amen.
Father Fred Jenga, C.S.C. is the President of Holy Cross Family Ministries. Father Fred, a native of Uganda, has multiple degrees including theology, philosophy, and communications. His native language is Lusoga and he speaks English, Luganda, Kiswahili, and Rutooro. He has been a teacher, researcher, author and family minister. Father Fred is committed to helping build God’s masterpiece one family at a time.
