Elise and I like using the electronic bill pay feature that our bank offers. It makes it so easy to just list someone you pay on a regular basis, set up a payment schedule then put the wheels in motion. We don’t need to have to remember to make the payments. They just get sent out automatically. Works really well when making covert motorcycle payments that you would rather not want your spouse to know about…just kidding. Would never do that. I was thinking about buying a new motorcycle that is the same color as my current one. “What dear? That is just my old bike!” But I digress.
We use this bill pay thing to also make quarterly donations to both our church and the synagogue. With the synagogue it is a common practice since contributions are usually set up annually as agreed upon levels with the congregation. There are no collection baskets at temple services. With church it is a little different. Many people use the contribution envelopes the parish mails out periodically to congregants. Placing them in the basket as they come around. As an aside, I always thought that the ushers wielding the long handled collection baskets looked a lot like the dealers at the dice tables in Las Vegas. Of course, I have NEVER been in a casino before…I am sure I just saw this on TV somewhere.
So, as a result of our making payments this way, we often do not put anything in the collection baskets when they come around. Now I can’t be certain, but I am guessing that there are people in the pews around us, who we sit near regularly, who wonder why we do not support the parish with monetary payments. They, of course, are not aware of the system we use to make our regular contributions.
In the Gospel today Jesus comments on the behavior of the scribes as well as the almsgiving of the wealthy versus the poor widow. In the first scenario, Jesus warns the apostles of behavior like the scribes. Of going around town making sure everyone sees them in their prayer robes, seeking places of honor at feasts and banquets. Today we would call this clericalism. The clergy using their positions to gain favor and prestige. Seeking to scale the ladder of the church hierarchy. Rather than remaining humble in doing the works of God. In addition, Jesus criticizes the scribes for reciting lengthy prayers….Hmmm. When I read that part I thought, maybe like us praying the Rosary?
In the second scenario, Jesus admires the poor widow who only puts a small amount of money into the temple treasury. Putting in all that she has versus donating from surplus, as did the wealthy.
But like Elise and I making contributions electronically instead of at Mass, things are not always what they seem. Like the story of Samuel anointing David as the next King of Israel. Samuel was sure it was one of David’s brothers that God would choose based on their appearance. But God sees into the heart of a person and saw something in David that Samuel could not. In today’s first reading from Tobit, Raphael the archangel sees the good in Tobit and his son Tobiah. Tobit was known for dropping everything in order to give the dead a respectable burial. Even though handling a dead body made one unclean in the eyes of Jewish Law. They also offered Raphael, before they knew he was an angel, a greater payment for helping them then what they had promised him at the outset. This did not mean that they offered Raphael all that they had. They were giving out of their surplus, as did the wealthy in the temple in the Gospel story.
And the Rosary? Yes, it is a long, rote prayer. Similar to what Jesus was bashing the scribes for doing. But we must go back to what God saw in David. The inner person. The deep motivation and intent for actions. I know many friends who draw strength from the Rosary and it is an extension of their charity. It is also truly their way of honoring the Blessed Mother.
And what we give financially? That is between us and the Lord. No one knows our intent or what other charities we support, in addition to our parishes. What we are asked to do is what Raphael tells Tobit and Tobiah:
for an image for the reflection, I discovered
this actor named…wait for it:
Tobit Raphael.
“It is better to give alms than to store up gold”
God only asks that we use the gifts He has given us to further His Kingdom. He does not expect us to bankrupt ourselves through giving. And the Lord knows that we cannot make judgement on how another prays or how much we think they should be giving financially. In the end, how we pray or how much we give, comes down to our true relationship with God. How we use our gifts and talents to praise Him and further His mission of salvation for all.
