By Father Casey

I am occasionally approached by people who are eager to jump start their faith. They don't have the spiritual life that they long for, and so they come to me hoping I might have a recommendation. Perhaps there is a book of the Bible they should begin reading, or a form of prayer they might try.

The truth is that there aren't really shortcuts to a healthy and life-giving faith, just as there aren't shortcuts to physical or emotional health. Faith is a journey, and it requires patience and persistence, day by day. I could no more expect a deep sense of connection with God after a few weeks of spiritual dabbling than I could expect to run a marathon after a few weeks of little jogs around the neighborhood. Like every other relationship, we get out of life with God what we put into it.

And yet, there is one thing that does have particular spiritual potency. It's not a short cut, exactly, but it does have the ability to rapidly reset our priorities and move us well along the path of Jesus: radical generosity. The gospels tell of a day when Jesus was asked by a heavy-hearted young man how to experience more of the kingdom of God. He had been trying this and that, and nothing quite seemed to help him feel like he was on the right track in his life with God. In response, Jesus "looked at him and loved him," and then told him to give what he had away (Mark 10:17-22). Turns out that giving things away is a good way to get going with God. We can load our lives with all sorts of spiritual activities, but without generosity, we are going to feel stuck in place.

That's ultimately why we're talking about generosity right now, when we could be talking about a whole lot else. I mean, there is just a little bit happening in the world these days – stuff that is sad and hard and scary – and we're talking about generosity? But generosity, or rather a lack of it, is embedded in so many of our biggest problems. Hard, miserly hearts are behind so much that is wrong around us and in us. There is so much greed, so much tit-for-tat, so much "what's in it for me," and it's causing so much suffering.

The good news is that the solution for what ails us is not a mystery: generosity. If we want to get ourselves and our world on a better and more beautiful path, we need to become more generous. It really is that simple. And not just the billionaires and politicians and celebrities. True, it would help if they thought less of themselves and more of everyone else, but in the midst of all the problems in our sad and hard and scary world, the only person I can control is myself. You and I can be more generous. We can give more of what we have away: more of the benefit of the doubt, more grace, more compassion, more mercy…and yes, more of our money, too.

In a world that encourages us to be focused on what's in it for us, we can be like Jesus and focus more on what we can give away. In a world that teaches us to clench our fists, we can be like Jesus and hold what we have more loosely. This is how we will start going with the grain of our natures, for we were all made in the image of God. God's likeness is at our core, and God is not a hoarder but a giver. To practice generosity is to be who we actually are. In the words of the great Winston Churchill, "we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

And oh, what a beautiful life it can be.

Casey +