Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
“With each contribution show a cheerful countenance, and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy,” I remember hearing a homily once about tithing, and I thought it was the most boring homily in the world. Of course, I was only six or seven at the time, but I remember my dad would say at our Sunday family rosaries, “Father hit the nail on the head, that is the reason we tithe, to give back what the Lord has given us.”
Msgr. Robert Gregory from my home parish used to say, “I have never seen a family in financial trouble that didn’t tithe!” It’s true, too, I have seen it within my own family. Jesus says in the gospel today “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.”
As monks, we tithe to the Lord by giving our lives up to him. How can you tithe? Not just by money but by sacrifice. It could be a small sacrifice of not having ice cream for the night. It’s like the poor widow who put in two coins—she gave all she had and has given more than anyone else.
Reflection by Br. Maximilian Burkhart, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections