My Father Loves Me: "It is more blessed to give than to receive"

I will be giving a talk on Poverty/Social Justice next week. I have been thinking this familiar saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" but I couldn't remember where it came from and whether it was Jesus or St. Paul who said it. So this is what I found out. In Acts 20:35, St. Paul told the Ephesian elders as he was bidding them farewell, knowing that he would be facing tremendous dangers up ahead and that he would most likely never to see them again, "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" It is possible that Jesus had said this directly to Paul when He met him after the Road to Damascus (Acts:9:1-10). These words of Jesus were not recorded in any of the four Gospels. Alternatively, they could have been passed down by the apostles in the form of oral tradition (according to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). There you have it!

The context is that St. Paul was reminding the Ephesian elders that he had not been a financial burden to them even though they owed it to him for his preaching the Good News to them. "You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions." (Acts 20: 34). So instead of asking for what he deserved to receive, he gave of himself fully for their salvation. St. Paul was validating Jesus' teaching on the blessings of giving.

When I became a Christian, I had to overcome my weakness of holding on to things that belong to me. I came from a poor family background. I learned hard work in order to move ahead. To give away what was hard earned was not an easy thing for me to do. I still remember (to my shame) that I got into a fight with a university friend over a dime! This is another item for confession!

What came to my mind yesterday as I was hiking through the woods was that I had the tendency of viewing all the commandments from God as burdensome rules to obey. But more and more (praise to the Holy Spirit, and thankful for the examples set forth by Mother Mary and all the saints) I had discovered that these commandments are means by which my Heavenly Father blesses me! I am truly enjoying going to mass (now 3-4 times a week) and reading the Holy Scripture every day. They are opportunities to spend time with my Father and hear Him tell me He loves me.

So giving is the same. The more I learn to give things away generously the more I will discover riches from my Father. This brings to mind the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). I don't want to be like the older brother who became mad when his father was treating his prodigal brother generously. His father reminded him:
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:31)

Oh may I have a big and generous heart like my Father!