Saint Matthew Parish issued the following announcement on Nov. 15.
When my children were going through the faith-formation program at my parish, one social justice lesson sticks out in my mind. The kids were learning about the inequality of the distribution of the world’s resources, and each was assigned a different income level. We used Hershey Kisses as our “food.” Those children that represented the low-income group received one piece of candy for every 3 people, while those children that represented the high-income group received 50 pieces of candy for each person. My son was one of the kids representing the high-income group. The question was asked, “What would need to happen to make the distribution of ‘food’ fair?” Everyone knew that sharing the total number of candies between all of the kids would balance the distribution, even my son. However, when given the chance to share, my son picked up his 50 pieces of candy and walked away from the table! He hoarded them, as if sharing would mean there wasn’t enough for him. He saw his resources as scarce.
I look at my resources that way too often; not enough money, not enough time. I imagine I am not alone. There are so many legitimate needs in the world — hunger, poverty, violence, abuse, inadequate education, health care, to name but a few. And yet, there are so many legitimate needs in my own family — mortgage, food, medical needs, education, clothing, to name but a few. I often feel pulled between what I should do for others and what I want and need to do for my family. I can quickly become immobilized by this tug of war.
I have found a few things that have helped me navigate this tension and shift how I see things:
1. Change my gaze and see my resources as abundant instead of scarce. Just changing my perspective has given me a sense of freedom to choose. Recognizing that I have everything I need and much of what I want takes me out of that place where I feel bad for not doing what I should. Instead, I find myself in a place of choice. I feel calm and focused versus tense and inadequate. When I feel like “I should,” I feel obligated. Seeing my life as abundant I find it very easy to connect with the love of God, to recognize God’s blessings in my life and to give from a place of thankfulness.
2. Give myself a break! News flash: I cannot save the world. Much as I would like to, I am not capable of, single-handedly, solving even one of the world’s great problems. However, I think the target is wrong. My focus should be less on the world’s problems and more on my participation in the mission of Christ. As Pope Benedict XVI said in Caritas in Veritate (“Charity in Truth”), “Without God man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is” (No. 78).
3. At Mass we are thankful for all of the gifts God gives us! It is about one thing; we are all one in Christ. In that oneness we are meant to care for one another to the best of our God-given ability. The challenge for me is to focus on my participation in the mission of Christ and let the outcome belong to God.
Original source can be found here.
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