Be Generous

by David Lins  |  09/18/2022  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

“Hey Father! Stop talking about money during Mass! It has no place in the Church!”

Once in a great while, a Catholic priest will hear something like this. Of course, more often, people with this mindset don’t have the courage to actually voice their complaint. No, they just spread poison to their friends or family.

“The Church just says it’s a sin to miss Sunday Mass because they just want a bigger collection.”

Allow me to address that last bit of gossip first: those aren’t the people giving back to God in the collection basket anyway! In my experience, the most generous people are the most humble. The most generous people don’t complain. The most generous people give because they fundamentally understand no human gets to keep money (or ANY possession) forever because it is on loan from God.

Now let’s go back to that first complaint - that talk of money should stay out of the Church.

That might be true is Jesus didn’t talk about it so much. (Take another peek at this weekend’s Gospel at the beginning of Luke 16.)

In truth, the entire attitude is fundamentally faulty. It is almost as if it has its roots in, “God is invited into every aspect of my life… except my wallet.”

Or is it something deeper? Maybe you don’t actually see giving to the Catholic Church generously as “giving to God.” Maybe you secretly suspect that I’m a salesman who is getting a bigger commission if I write this (rather than it being inspired by the Gospel which is read every three years like the vast majority of Gospels). Maybe you just know that while I drive a Camry to work, but my real car is an Aston Martin (to be clear—this is not true) because all Catholic Church workers are in it for the sweet, sweet cash.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bitter. I love working for the Church where the staff don’t get rich because of their work there. But more than that, I love working for the Church where we still courageously talk about difficult topics.

Just like Jesus.