Sharing with the World

22nd December, 2020

His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa delivered this talk at a fund raising luncheon.

‘As we all experienced, we had the first plate, we had the second plate and the salad, and drinks; soft drinks, hard drinks, and everything. This makes me wonder, do we really appreciate what God has given us?

So, I was thinking maybe as a challenge for a week, every night before going to bed we could say a small prayer, something along the lines, dear Lord - as a child would pray - thank you for everything you have given me, and please whatever you have given me, give it to everyone else around me.

Unfortunately, there is poverty not only in Asia and Africa, but there is poverty even inside our families and there is poverty inside our souls. There's a lot of emotional poverty, and we don't even care about it. But if we don't start giving, we’ll never end up being rich ourselves. So if anything, you have to realize that we need to make a start and change. And it doesn't matter if we have nothing to give; even a smile, even a good word, even some patience when someone wants to talk to us. They can go a long way. But if we do have something to give, the reason why we have it is so that we can share it.

Saint John Chrysostom says that the rich exist because of the poor. So if God has given us something in person, it’s not because of us, it’s because of the others. And this is what we should keep in mind that we are servants of the others, whatever we have is not for just ourselves. Otherwise, we will die very very poor regardless of our means or our family background.

And this was today's gospel; the boy was about to lose his soul and did not realize that he had to do something about his soul before he was to lose it. So, we can all start by saying this childish prayer, maybe for a week before we go to bed. Dear Lord, help me appreciate what you have given me and please give the same if not more to everyone around us.’

English

22nd December, 2020

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