A story is told that John, the Patriarch of Alexandria, lived in the greatest austerity and poverty. When a wealthy member of the community learned that John had only one old and faded blanket, he sent him a beautiful and expensive blanket with a note requesting John to use the blanket for the sake of the donor. John accepted the blanket with thanks but used it only for one night. Then he sold the blanket and distributed the money to the poor. When the donor learned about it, he bought the blanket back and gave it back to John. But John sold it again and gave the money to the poor. This happened three times and every time John would say with a smile, “We will see who will get tired first.”
John was born in Cyprus of a wealthy and noble family. He was married but soon thereafter his wife, and later all his children, died. Left alone, he decided to use all his resources to help the poor and devote his time to prayer and spiritual pursuits. His reputation for personal holiness and generosity became widely known. As a result, in 608, when he was fifty years of age, he was appointed to the patriarchal chair of Alexandria.
Among his first acts as Patriarch was to order the preparation of a list of his “masters.” With this he meant the poor because they had great power in the court of heaven to intercede for those who had helped them on earth. Every Wednesday and Friday he sat the whole day on a bench near the church listening to the problems of the poor and helping them in their necessities.
When he found that the church’s treasury had eighty thousand pieces of gold, he ordered that these be distributed for the use of the hospitals and monasteries. He thus consecrated to the service of the poor and of the hospitals and monasteries the revenues of the See of Alexandria. When the Persians plundered Syria, his home country, and ransacked Jerusalem, he cared for the refugees who fled to Egypt and sent money, food and provisions to the suffering people of Jerusalem. But when Nicetas, the governor, imposed new taxes, which affected the poor harshly, John spoke gently against it. The governor reacted angrily, spoke harsh words to John’s face and left him abruptly. Towards evening, John sent the governor a note saying, “The sun is going to set,” indirectly reminding the governor of the advice to “never let the sun go down upon your anger.” The admonition had its intended effect and immediately the governor came to the patriarch and apologized.
In 619, the governor invited John to join him to visit Emperor Heraclius in Constantinople. While they were on the way, John felt that his death was at hand and said to Nicetas, “You invite me to the emperor of the earth; but the King of Heaven calls me to himself.” John therefore sailed back to his native Cyprus and shortly thereafter died happily in his hometown of Amathus. He was canonized a saint of the Church and became known as St. John the Almsgiver.
The story of St. John the Almsgiver calls to mind the following incident in the Gospel of Mark: Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:41-44)
The treasury is located in the temple’s Court of Women where there are 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles. When the metal coins are dropped into these receptacles, they make a loud noise. The more coins are dropped, the louder and longer the noise for everybody to hear. These receptacles are marked to indicate the purpose for which the contribution is being made – for temple tribute, sacrifices, incense, benevolence, and other purposes.
The widow dropped two mites. A mite was a small and thin copper coin with an image of the sun and its rays on one side and of a ship’s anchor on the other. It was the smallest coin in use. Two mites equaled a quadrans, which was a quarter of an assarius, which in turn was one-sixteenth of a denarius. Thus the two mites were equal to 1/64th of a denarius. A denarius was the daily wage of a laborer. In today’s currency, a mite would be about equal to a one peso coin. The mention of two coins is significant because it implies that the widow could have given only one coin and kept the other. But in her generosity, she gave all that she had.
In our community, there are many couples who have been doing mission work in many places, using their personal finances to support their travel, accommodation and other expenses. For most of them, they take the cost of their missions from their surplus since many of them are top executives, senior international officials, or successful businessmen. But over the 30 years existence of our community, many of these couples have retired. They survive mainly from their pensions or savings, which are usually just enough to support a modest lifestyle. Yet many still volunteer for missions albeit not as often as before or only to local destinations that do not cost as much as foreign travel. They remain committed to supporting their travel and related mission costs drawing not anymore from their surplus but from their own needs.
We were invited to give a talk on Moments with Mary in a nearby province during their mission core teaching night. One of the top couple leaders gave us a ride thus giving us an opportunity to talk with them during the two-hour drive to the venue. We learned that the husband retired early from a government corporation and now he does only occasional consulting. We also learned that the wife is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. And yet they continue to serve actively in the community supporting their service and missions using their personal resources and not drawing from the limited finances of the community.
We know another couple who started the formation of the community in another province not far from Manila. Their business was doing well then and they contributed generously to the growing community and personally financed their missions to the different parts of the province. But later their business suffered a number of serious setbacks and they lost a fortune. Soon thereafter, the wife died. Today, the husband remains an active member of the community and still supports its activities generously. While before they gave from their surplus, today he gives from his own needs.
Although not all are able to give generously even from their surplus, it is still relatively easier to give when there is enough to meet not just your needs but even your wants. But giving from what you know you will need sooner or later is much more difficult. Because our community is now over 30 years old, more and more members have reached retirement age. Some have generous pensions or have thriving businesses that provide continuing income. But others have only their savings to draw from. They worry that if they live to the late 70s or early 80s, they will not have sufficient savings to support even a simple lifestyle. But they continue to support the community and fund their travels and missions. While before they contributed from their surplus wealth, now, like the widow, they contribute from their relative poverty. They just hope that, like St. John, the Lord will call them to himself.
Comments (0)