22 January, Wednesday — A tenth of what we have

22 Jan – Memorial for St. Vincent, deacon and martyr

St. Vincent of Saragossa (d. 304) was a friend of St. Valerius of Saragossa in Spain, and served as his deacon. He was imprisoned and tortured in Valencia, some of it by burning on a gridiron, for his faith. He converted the jailor and was finally offered release if he would give up the sacred texts to the fire, but he refused. He was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian.

• Patron Saint Index

Heb 7:1-3, 15-17
Mk 3:1-6

…Abraham gave a tenth of all that he had.

I have always been impressed when I hear my non-Catholic Christian friends faithfully give a tenth of all they make to the church. For us Catholics, we are encouraged to prudently and generously give what we can. In this reflection, I’d like to invite you, my brothers and sisters, to think of all that we have, and discern what we could give to God.

First up, we all have time. We all have 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week. Ten percent of 24 hours is 2.4 hours a day. What if we offer that 2.4 hours a day to God by praying or doing his work or chatting with him? A Rosary typically takes 20 minutes. If we talk about morning prayers and evening prayers, that could be another 20 minutes. If we talk about a week, that’s 16.8 hours a week. Mass is only 1 hour; surely we can spare some time to visit our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Oh, and if you sing, they say you’re praying twice 😉

Where else can we find time? They say study and work done for the love of God is prayer. So maybe we can be intentional in an hour of our study or work and do the best we can, because that hour is offered to God. We can even talk to God in our walks.

What about food? Most of us eat two to three meals a day, and maybe a coffee or snack? What if we offer up a meal as mortification or prayer? And use the money as a donation? What if, instead of eating 10 slices of bak kwas (sweet grilled meat slices), we only eat 9 and we offer not eating that one slice as our 10% offering?

What about our conveniences? What if, instead of taking the lift for 10 floors, we only take the lift for 9 floors and offer the sacrifice of climbing one floor? Instead of using takeaway packs 10 times, we only do so nine times and offer that one time of bringing, using and washing our own containers. Or maybe, instead of using the aircon for 10 hours, we only use it for nine.

I’m not sure how many of us are intuitively thinking of money when we look at what to offer to God. I was helping in a Catholic charity before, and they said that there were instances when they could raise money, but they find it difficult to get people to give time. But by right, isn’t God entitled to everything we have? Monetary sacrifices are important, but I hope that we also remember that money is not the only thing we can offer God. He has given us so much beyond money. Perhaps we can look at our lives and see what else we can give back to him. And maybe we can have fun being creative with our God on what we can give up.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Stephanie Villa)

Prayer: Lord, teach me to be generous with everything I have.  

Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for giving me everything I have.