Why do you give?

Why do you give?

Do you give in hope of getting in return? While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, it is not the kind of exceptional giving we are called to. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew), "If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the heathens do the same?"

Do you give in hope of gaining recognition for your gift? There's nothing wrong with claiming a tax deduction on a financial contribution, but if the point of a gift is a tax write-off than you have given nothing. If you are donating your efforts to a cause because you wish to be seen donating your efforts to a cause, then you are also giving nothing. In the very same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

"But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward."

No, there is really only one reason to give, and it is the same reason Jesus had for giving us back our lives on the cross: love. A gift is like a sacrifice in that it is a selfless donation of yourself without thought for what comes back to you, even if giving sometimes repays like no other dividend.

As the Pope wrote in his first encyclical:

Love embraces the whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including the dimension of time. It could hardly be otherwise, since its promise looks towards its definitive goal: love looks to the eternal. Love is indeed “ecstasy”, not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Lk 17:33), as Jesus says throughout the Gospels (cf. Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25)

So give – give from the place inside you that is love. Give until it hurts. Nobody ever failed to get into Heaven due to excessive generosity.