“Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.” (3 John 6)
Sometimes it feels like we’re running a gauntlet. Multiple hands reach for our time and our resources. Fund appeals fill our in-boxes. There are always sign-up sheets at the back of church: donate to a school fund-raiser, help at the parish picnic, bring food for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, take a tag from the Giving Tree. It can be hard to decide what to support and how much to give.
In making such judgments, two factors are relevant. First: will they make good use of our gift? What percentage of our donation will go directly to the work, and how much will go to professional fundraisers? Does the charity support practices that go against our Catholic faith? And second: are we able to help? We shouldn’t be so generous that we cannot feed our own families or pay our own debts.
John’s practical appeal asking Gaius to show hospitality touches both of these factors. The missionaries John writes about deserve Gaius’ help, for they have nobly “set out for the sake of the Name” (3 John 7). And Gaius is capable of helping them because he has been faithful in all he does—he has been an effective steward of his resources (3 John 5).
But John also introduces a third consideration, which is the most important of all: “Help them in a way worthy of God” (3 John 6). We can do all the necessary calculations to determine how much to give and whom to give to. But in the final analysis, we should simply give. Why? Because God has been so generous with us—to the point, even, of giving up his only Son for us.
So give in a way that reflects God’s own generosity. Give your time. Give your money. Give your attention. Give your affection. Just give it away! Be responsible, but be lavish. Be discerning, but be generous in your assessment. Every time you receive Jesus in the Eucharist, remember how generous he is. Every time you feel his love in your family or friends or at prayer, see it for the unmerited gift that it is. Then decide to be just as giving—and forgiving—to the people around you. In other words, give in a way worthy of God!
“Father, help me be as generous with others as you are with me.”
Psalm 112:1-6; Luke 18:1-8