According to an article by Oxfam, the top 1% of the world’s richest own even more wealth than 95% of the rest of the world. If we come to think about it, shouldn’t the world’s resources be more fairly distributed? How are the rich fairing in sharing their wealth with the needy?
To be fair, a huge portion of these people’s wealth may be tied to their companies that help provide employment to many. Also, these people may have also given much in terms of donations to their favorite charities either through their companies or personally.
However, even if we consider the above, the truth still stands that we could hardly imagine the huge difference in the lives of the poor as compared with the lives of these billionaires who make up the world’s top 1%.
What the Widow’s Offering Teaches Us About True Generosity
It is no wonder then why Jesus praised the old widow who gave all the copper coins that she had as compared with the rich who only gave a small portion of their wealth.
“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had…” – Mark 12:43:44 (NABRE)
So the question now is, “Why aren’t the rich giving more?”
This is a question that each person would have to answer personally. And perhaps, this is also the same question we should ask ourselves. “Am I not giving more?”
It is very easy for us to see things from afar, but is often very difficult to see things up-close.
In our own lives, we may also be contented in giving to a few charities. We may even give alms to the poor that we see from time to time. And because of this, we feel at peace when the truth is that we could have given more.
Why aren’t we giving more? Have we lost our sense of what is good and bad?
I think that most people aim to be good in reality. Yes, even the rich who seem to have no idea how much more they can possibly give away.
The Comfort Trap: How Wealth Can Blind Us to Others’ Needs
But many times, our riches, comforts and luxuries blind us to the truth about our neighbors’ needs. The richer and more comfortable we are, the more that our hearts can become callous towards those who do not share our way of living.
“How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” – Luke 18:24-25 (NRSVCE)
And that is why sometimes, suffering becomes our friend in our spiritual life. This is because pain is often the only thing that can awaken our ears that have become deaf to the cries of our brothers and sisters in need. Only the troubles of life can help us to break out of our selfishness.
Suffering develops both humility and empathy. It enables our hearts to bleed and in so bleeding, there is created an opening for love to flow and enter in.
Those who have just begun in their spiritual walk and have only tasted the heights of spiritual sweetness are yet immature in their faith. They may think that the road is so easy and they expect everyone else to be perfect. They may even look down on those who struggle and fall.
And perhaps that may be one reason why they are also allowed to fall sometimes. So that they can realize what they lack. So that they may understand that it is only by God’s grace that protects them and sustains them that they were able to reach such heights of sweetness.
Why Suffering May Be the Key to Spiritual Growth
We all abhor pain and suffering. But they still have a role here below when it comes to our spiritual maturity.
Suffering refines love and helps us grow. It enables us to have more compassion by arming us with the humble realization that we are all still struggling, and that we all need God’s grace and one another’s support in our journey called life.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Jocelyn Soriano is the author of 366 Days of Compassion. You may want to start your day by reading this devotional book to inspire you and lead you to prayer.
Where is God? God is with us, but we often do not know where to look and so we do not see. God is there, pursuing us, waiting for us to take the time to call on Him in our helplessness, in the routine of our daily lives. He is the one who will fill our lives with meaning and our hearts with hope and love.
See Jocelyn’s books from other digital stores.
You may also want to read “Why Can’t the Rich Ever Be Satisfied?“
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