Giving Of Ourselves

At every single instant we are faced with monumental choices.  In the tiny spaces of life we find intersections of various choices before us, choices which appear not to deserve much consideration, yet which have gigantic significance.  With every choice we make, whether it seems tremendous or inconsequential, we decide whether or not we are valuing the opportunities God has given us as his agents to love others.  

We might think that only the decisions which appear to be immense have great impact.  While over the centuries it seems that some of us have made such momentous choices spontaneously, we must not believe that we cannot be useful instruments in the Hand of God for effecting great change if we do not make giant leaps all at once.  God calls us to radically follow Him, in steps both large and small.  

And so earlier this week we heard in the Gospel that 

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother."
He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." 
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement, his face fell, 
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men it is impossible, but not for God.

All things are possible for God."*  

The young man went away despondent, for he was very rich.  Perhaps he was visualizing selling everything he had all at once.  

We can become discouraged if we try to imagine doing too much all at once.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  We cover a very long distance a little bit at a time.  

This is the norm.  The vast majority of the time, human beings do not make major changes in the blink of an eye.  

However, when we are willing to humble ourselves, God gives us the grace to perform remarkable deeds.**  In the third century, while he was in church, Saint Anthony of Egypt heard this Gospel passage about the rich young man.  When Saint Anthony heard it, he felt called by God to do as he had just heard, so he went out and sold everything he had.  He gave most of the money to those who were poor, keeping only a small amount for the care of his sister.  He then devoted himself to a life of prayer and asceticism, yet he also healed and advised those who came to him.  

Saint Anthony was enabled to sell everything he had, to give the proceeds to those who were impoverished, and to go and follow Jesus because God had empowered him to do so.  On his own, Saint Anthony would not have been able to renounce himself and follow Jesus.  Since God had given him the grace and the strength to give up all he had, he considered it all worthless,*** and gave it all away for the sake of Jesus and the message of love of God and love of one's neighbor which Jesus preached.  

Rather than huge steps, usually we assent to being humbled bit by bit.  Typically we agree to changes in our lives little by little.  Even Saint Francis of Assisi, a great saint, who ended up living in extreme poverty, gave away everything he had in incremental steps.  

Everyday we are to die little deaths to ourselves so we can live to our neighbor.  God calls us to give of ourselves at every instant; we are to love our neighbor at all times, both in moments which seem crucial and pivotal as well as in those which seem trivial.  

Earlier this week I received another good example of this way to live of treasuring every chance to give away what we have to our neighbor.  Once again I spoke with a particular homeless woman, who I've previously called "Roslyn" here.  Yet again I learned about how often she offers what she has to people who need it.  She has little, yet she consents to God that she may be even further lessened.  She consents to God that she may become less so that she may become more.  She lets herself be given to others, so that her heart may expand in love for others.  

We can give ourselves away to others in every moment.  With every little act we perform, we can give more and more and more of ourselves away to others.  At every instant, we can come to die more and more to ourselves and live more and more to our neighbor.  

Saint Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, told us that her little way of getting to Heaven was through performing little acts of love for those around her.  When she was irritated by another nun who made noise handling her rosary while praying, Therese offered up her irritability with this other nun in prayer to Jesus.  Confronted with the little frustrations in life, which may appear to be meaningless to us, we can affect the atmosphere of the world in how we choose to respond to such seemingly unimportant matters.  

In the little decisions we make about how we react to the people around us, we consent to God shaping the world through our choices.  And so, conscious of how we can choose to embrace the will of God at every moment in our lives, we can take courage in our small actions.  We can find encouragement in the little windows of opportunity to love in our lives.  If we make ourselves little enough so that we gladly fit through these windows of seemingly inconsequential opportunities to love, God will work wonders through us.  

As we assent to being humbled by God little by little, God gives us the grace to do His will.  God empowers us to love our neighbor.  God enables us to do what would be impossible without Him.  God helps the little to become great.  God exalts those who allow themselves to be humbled.****  God raises up those who bow down to Him.  God brings those into His Kingdom who live in love.  Let us live in love at every moment, through acts both large and small, and constantly be entering into the Kingdom of God.  

* Mark 10:17-27 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 
*** Philippians 3:8 
**** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14