(The thirteenth in a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. Addisalem T. Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus).
How can poverty give us an opportunity to become generous?
The Giving Tree is a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. First published in 1964 by Harper & Row, it has become one of Silverstein’s best known titles and has been translated into numerous languages. The main theme of this children’s story is that the Giving Tree is always giving simply because it sincerely desires an unconditional relationship with the boy. And that desire never weakens, even when the boy becomes a man – and even an elderly man – in time. Yet the poor boy, self-centered as he was, remained blind to the genuine goodness of the giving tree. Through it all, the Giving Tree, unchanged in its disposition of goodness and generosity, never stopped desiring and rejoicing in offering his little friend whatever material benefits he needed for his earthly happiness. In the end of the story, the Giving Tree was able to give the greatest gift it could possibly give which was the gift of itself. Best of all, his friend was finally content with simply being in the presence of his friend.
You could say that in the Gospels, God the Father is like the Giving Tree. Our Blessed Mother and St Joseph needed to experience in a tangible manner that the greatest gift that they could receive from God is the Gift of Himself. In my mind, the Giving Tree is a portrayal of God the Father whose generosity to his children is unceasing, wanting as He does, to enter into a personal relationship with each one. While the boy in the story does not respond to the “gift,” the Gospels present us with people who do. Particularly, I think of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph who experience in a tangible manner gift after gift from the Father. He it is who called Our Lady and St. Joseph to leave their home so that His Son, Jesus, might be born in a poor stable in Bethlehem. This same Father used a pagan Quirinius to make an order for a census so that all who seek God may come to know the operations of the providential will of the Father and trust it as a guiding principle. It wasn’t a relative that gave the Holy Family a place to live and good hospitality for their most basic needs. It was our Heavenly Father who drew the simple shepherds to come and adore our Lord as He lay in the manger. Perhaps these shepherds did give the Holy Family some food or other practical goods to help them become more comfortable in their poverty. Even the three wise men, who seem to represent the Blessed Trinity, become instruments of God the Father in their offering gold, frankincense and myrrh. So it was that the giving Father provided for His own – even if it demanded using others to do so.
What is so amazing is that, moved by such a “Giving-Father”, Our Lady and St. Joseph become giving trees of their own. They do so in supporting and providing for Jesus, seeing to His every practical need. As was the case with the boy in the children’s storybook, the only real gift that our Lady and St. Joseph could give was the gift of themselves by being simply present to Jesus who was the One giving them eternal Salvation as He hung on a tree at Calvary. The poor unimpressive stable was a foreshadowing of Calvary in which was the means to later receive the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost.
We must never forget our “Giving-Father.” All of creation, including humanity, depends on what He gives not only for our very existence, sustenance, and salvation, but also for our happiness. As we encounter His generosity, let us see it as an invitation to enter into a relationship of love with Him. And let it also challenge us to become for others what the Father has been for us: instruments of His personal love by the giving the gift of ourselves.
Fr. Addisalem Mekonnen