Next
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A - 21/9/2014 - Gospel: Mt 20: 1-16a
Generosity of God
Generosity is the quality of being kind and generous. It is an act of voluntarily giving without expecting reward or pay back in return. It involves sharing whatever we have to ease the burden of life of others. True generosity must come from the heart and is based on the individual's intentions of giving. It reflects the individual's passion to help others. The original terminology of the word 'generosity' was something to do with a noble birth right and then it developed into the concept of the nobility of the spirit. The word retains some its traits of characters such as: courage and strength, richness and gentleness.

These diverse human qualities were moving from noble birth rights and applied to materials of the world such as fertile land and the abundant provisions of food and vibrancy of colours. Later on the term evolves in directions of actions by doing something good for others namely giving of money and possessions to others. By the 19th Century the word "generosity" developed to describe noble status of personal quality.

Generosity is not something we are born with. It isn't an inert idea but it is a process of learning to have compassion for others. We are not born with this quality of life but we can be trained to have compassion and an individual needs to learn to live with it for the improvement of the morality of life. Practicing generosity is good for the moral improvement and at the same time vices are eliminated. In the modern world, especially in the first world country, generosity is much more than sharing times and resources and talents. In many instances we need to be generous in providing psychological and emotional supports. We need to be charitable in both verbal and body language and in both terms of spoken and the media for the good of others. In order to enjoy life at home charity indeed begins at home.
Christians have a duty before God to show hospitality towards others. Our mission is to care for the marginalized and the needy around the world. By doing this we are responding to God himself as Jesus said:

I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me. Mat 25,40

The central mission of our Catholic Church has always been to give care for the poor, together with widows and orphan and the under-privilege. It is the obligation of each individual and the mission of the faith community. The practice has been right from the beginning of the infant Church that is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles

There is more happiness in giving than in receiving Acts 20,35

Paul in his writing in 1Cor 12,31ff elaborates the notion of charity and love. He wrote that charity without love is for one's own glorification but when it is done with love from the heart and for love it transforms the lives of others and certainly makes God's love real for the world.

Previous