Posted by The WORD in other words (2021) by Fr. Ferdie Bajao, SVD (St. Jude Cath. Sch., Manila)
Monday 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Photo: Chapel Façade in Centre Theresianum de Kinshasa, Congo
A year ago, we were treated to a Taal eruption. As a response to that calamity, I was blessed to head the school’s relief response.
Generous people – students, teachers, parents, benefactors, confreres, office and general services personnel, and many more – poured in help, material, and spiritual. Those were busy days. The team spirit of volunteers braving the dire situations of reaching out to the affected and bringing goods to evacuation centers was inspiring. With all the calamities shaking our nation, we have also learned and re-learned the beauty of coming together as brothers and sisters in times of trial and tragedies.
There is this one very beautiful experience that touched my heart so deeply. It was a little pack of chips, with a note, placed on my table. The little note says: Dear Father Ferdy, I want to give the biscuit to the victims of Taal Volcano. It came from a Grade 2 pupil.
Honestly, I saw all the boxes of goods and the packs of various aid materials pale in comparison to this cute offering. This second-grader gave her all. Her naïve and simple contribution would not save the world, but in her imagination perhaps, the pack of chips would greatly help the victims.
This story of the generous widow who gave little but earned the Lord’s praise and earned heaven by two small coins paralleled that of the little girl. When I visited one of the evacuation centers, I had the chance of handing the pack to one of the children there. Nothing so earth-shattering happened when I gave it, but I saw how he clutched the gift with his hand, ran to his friends, opened it, and shared it among themselves.
One small act multiplying into more acts of goodness. Nothing is little or gigantic to God, for he sees the true stature of his beloved. He knows the exact warmth of generosity in one’s heart. He knows the truth of every soul’s capacity to give love and pay it forward. The little that we have, God would be pleased to make into something great. Just give.
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