5th Sunday (B) 4 Feb 2024 Reward
What is my reward, says St Paul, for preaching the Gospel. It is this – to be able to do it for free; because he does not need a reward, possessing the ‘reward’ already insofar as he could not be any happier, already knowing Christ Jesus.
Well, the only thing he could have better than he has it now is that others would take up what he is offering them – that they too will discover the joy of the Gospel.
We know there is a pleasure in doing good to those in need, relieving suffering of others, we enjoy giving in itself.
It touches a chord within us and this is understandable if we reflect that we are created by God in His image, and He certainly likes to give; He is doing it all the time; it is His nature.
Some giving has a cost. If I give you my last piece of bread then I am foregoing the benefit which that bread would have done me. But is that not the noblest expression of humanity, sacrificing oneself for another.
We put up statues for people who do that. We do not put up a statue for someone who spent his whole life looking after himself!
But there is another way we can give, whereby it costs us nothing. That is, if we have so much of what we are giving it can never run out. This is what happens in the spiritual world. We can do good for each other, pray, encourage, evangelize, catechise – all things which can benefit both the giver and the receiver.
This is how heavenly grace works. God can give all day and still have more to give.
This is what St Paul had discovered. He could never run out of heavenly joy, and the more he gave it to others the more joy he felt.
Apart from making us feel good there will be a deeper effect on us, as we become more generous by nature; and with that will come other good qualities like cheerfulness, patience, charity etc,
God is generous, and He will make us so as well. We can note that in Jesus’s case He could have helped people all day long without costing Himself anything. But to take away the sin of the world He did suffer a huge cost, in His passion and death.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Lk 6,38).
One snag we find when people don’t want to receive the free gift. Free beer they would stop for that but not for Free eternal life!
They know there is a catch with the latter, that it does require some personal commitment. But even then the fine print is joyful. The joy of giving outweighs the sacrifice.
We possess the treasure in the field (Mt 13,44), and at least the beginnings of eternal life. Learning from St Paul’s example, we cannot be otherwise than happy if we possess a share in the infinite graces of Heaven.
There will be hard times and bad days, but the overall direction is Up.
With practice we develop the virtues we need to go through adversity, when joy is hard to find. As we see in the first reading from Job.
He was in a very low point but he did manage to come through; so by the end he had his material fortunes restored, and a much deeper understanding of God's ways.
We hope to come out happy in the end, always happy and never otherwise. It is not a fairy story; it is just what would have been in place a long time ago, if enough people had believed it. And a glorious future is achievable by the same logic.
May His Kingdom come.
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