Generous Like Jesus

By Chris Sparks

What does it mean to be a disciple of Divine Mercy? The Sacred Heart of Jesus shows us the way.

The Son was given everything by the Father before all ages. As Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, explains so well in his book 33 Days to Greater Glory, the Son didn’t just receive the good and perfect gift from the Father and hold on to it for Himself. No! The Son imitates the Father. The Son gives everything back to the Father with the same perfect generosity and love that the Father had showed to Him. And the Gift, the act of giving, is the Holy Spirit.

To be a disciple of Jesus, the Divine Mercy Incarnate, then, is to be as generous with our God-given gifts as the Son. It means trusting God the Father, who has already provided us with existence, with family, with life and love, to continue to provide, and to provide even more in the future.

Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. (Lk 6:38)

Generosity is a tremendous act of trust. It means that we count on God to continue as He has begun, and as He has promised to do — that as we empty ourselves of time, talent, and treasure for love of Him and therefore for love of our neighbor, He will provide. He will fill our hands again with every good and perfect gift. We will not be left desolate by our gift-giving, not rendered barren and empty, but rather made even more fertile, even more rich than before.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Mt 5:7)

We may receive gifts we do not expect. Our money may be replaced with relationships; our time, with people; our talent, with more and greater work. Or we may give all, and find our lives cut short by martyrdom, by the summons to go all the way home to the greatest gift of all, to God Himself. We may find that God’s plan is not our plan. Indeed, it is almost certain we will learn that our vision of the future and God’s are two very different things.

That can be one of the hardest parts of Christianity. Look at Simon Peter, crying out against Christ’s Passion (see Mt 16:22). Look at Jesus, even, begging the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane that, if it could happen, let the cup pass from Him. Let these sufferings be averted! But not my will, O Lord. Not my will, but thy will be done (see Mk 14:32-50).

Why? Because God is love. Because to love as God loves is to carry our cross, is to accept the uttermost generosity that drains us even of blood and water, that pierces our heart, that gives our all for love of the Father, for the life of the world, for the life of our families, our friends, our communities, and even our enemies.

And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40)

Life as a Christian looks like the radical humility of the Incarnation, and the radical generosity of Christ’s Passion. Life as a Christian looks like St. Faustina and her fellow saints. She described it well in her Diary:

Although it is not easy to live in constant agony,
To be nailed to the cross of various pains,
Still, I am inflamed with love by loving,
And like a Seraph I love God, though I am but
weakness.

Oh, great is the soul that, midst suffering,
Stands faithfully by God and does His will
And remains uncomforted midst great rainbows
and storms,
For God’s pure love sweetens her fate.

It is no great thing to love God in prosperity
And thank Him when all goes well,
But rather to adore Him midst great adversities
And love Him for His own sake and place one’s hope
in Him.

When the soul is in the shadows of Gethsemane,
All alone in the bitterness of pain,
It ascends toward the heights of Jesus,
And though ever drinking bitterness — it is not sad.

When the soul does the will of the Most High God,
Even amidst constant pain and torments,
Having pressed its lips to the chalice proffered,
It becomes mighty, and nothing will daunt it.

Though tortured, it repeats: Your will be done,
Patiently awaiting the moment of its transfiguration,
For, though in deepest darkness, it hears the voice of
Jesus: You are Mine,
And this it will know fully when the veil falls. (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 995)

At the same time, our radical generosity is meant to be lived according to virtue, according to wisdom. Prudence is the queen of the virtues, and wisdom means we must practice discernment. The generosity that others hope for from us, or may even demand as their due from a Christian soul, may well not be the generosity to which God has called us. After all, we are given vocations, particular calls from God. So St. Faustina was summoned to be the Secretary and Apostle of Divine Mercy. Had she refused that call from God in order to focus entirely on her gardening or her work in the convent, imagine how much poorer we all would be!

So on the First Fridays, let us turn our gaze to the rays streaming forth from the pierced side of Christ in the Divine Mercy Image, and to the Sacred Heart. Let us venerate Him who loves us all to the point of redemption, and recommit ourselves to imitating His generosity, knowing that we can’t love supernaturally without His grace and assistance. Let us examine our consciences and repent of our sins, wisely discerning how God summons us to love Him and our neighbors, knowing that love is our goal and not mere suffering.

Pray for me, that I may practice what I preach. I’ll pray for you.

REMINDER: In this Year of St. Joseph, each First Friday and First Saturday of the month during 2021, we are livestreaming special prayer services from the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. Specifically, tune in on First Fridays at 8 p.m. and First Saturdays 3-5:30 p.m. (EST) at TheDivineMercy.org and on our Facebook page Divine Mercy (Official).

Chris Sparks serves as senior book editor for the Marian Fathers. He is the author of the Marian Press book How Can You Still Be Catholic? 50 Answers to a Good Question.

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