Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 320


He also told them, “Take care what you hear.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; 
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."




Saint Ignatius observed that we tire of thanking God long before he tires of giving to us! It only takes a moment of reflection to affirm that.

“Count your blessings instead of sheep” crooned Bing Crosby, “and you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings.”

Unfortunately, as I consider God’s generosity, I notice my penny-pinching parsimony toward others. There are always good reasons for that -- if I consider my rationalizations as reasonable.

Therapists in the hospital tell me the C-PAP machine which assists a patient’s inhaling, also aids one’s exhale. The passage that is gently forced open by the inrush of air remains open for the outflow. Relieved of its excess carbon dioxide the body rebounds.

Likewise, I suppose, if I were more generous toward others I would receive all the more from God.

Jesus describes an accelerating cycle of receptivity and generosity, “To the one who has, more will be given…” and a decelerating cycle of stinginess, “from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

I think of Saint Francis who seemed way out front of the friars in his trust in God and generosity to others. He is like a man standing within inches of a bonfire as the rest of us, twenty feet behind him, cannot take a single step forward. We’re shouting to him, “You go brother!” but he is weeping, “Love is not loved; love is not loved.” He knows what we can hardly imagine, that God’s graces are infinitely beyond our willingness to give or receive.

There is so much more that God wants to give to the willing.