WHO GETS MOST?

Homily for January 30^th, 2014: Mark 4:231-25.

          “To the one who has, more will be given,” we heard in the gospel reading. That seems terribly unfair, doesn’t it? Jesus’ words are not a statement about social justice. He is not speaking of how things should be. He is speaking of how they actually are. 

          Teachers observe this all the time. Which students receive the most help from their teachers? Over time it is the so-called “good students,” those who are eager to learn. They receive most because they give most: their attention, willingness to work, gratitude for extra help. The students who think they know it all already, who are lazy or disinterested may need more help. But when their teachers discover that they don’t welcome efforts to help them, don’t really use the help offered, and are not grateful for it, teachers turn instead to those who welcome help and profit from it. Is that fair? Perhaps not. But it is the way things are.

          “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.” What is Jesus saying? He is telling us that the people who receive most are those who give most. Look at Mother Teresa, now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. During her long life she received praise and adulation from all over the world. The Missionaries of Charity which she founded – in a day when, in our country alone, a hundred thousand Sisters left the convent to embark on other careers – received so much financial support that she forbade all fund-raising. How did she do it? She tells us in her own words:

“Spread love everywhere you go, first of all in your own house. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”

“If you judge people, you’ll have no time to love them.”

Perhaps you’re thinking: That’s fine and good, Father. But we can’t all be Mother Teresas. That’s true. But every one of us can do what she tells us in these words: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”