The power of radical generosity
Today is one of my favorite days of the year: Giving Tuesday. From their official website: “Giving Tuesday is a movement that unleashes the power of radical generosity around the world. Giving Tuesday re-imagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity.”
Catholic Charities has a lot in common with this bold vision. Our sacrosanct commitment to uphold the dignity of the human person is the predicate for our shared humanity. At every agency I am fortunate to visit, I encounter radical generosity in action on the part of agencies’ staff and volunteers, board members, donors, collaborators and clients. Generosity inspires generosity.
And yet, in the face of so much human need, suffering, violence, poverty, addiction, neglect and sudden calamitous events, it can be hard to hold on to a vision of shared humanity and a commitment to generosity. Which is why today’s readings matter as much in our day as they did when they were written, millennia earlier.
Today’s readings are all about offering prophetic words of encouragement in times of fear, anxiety, unrest and hopelessness. We are offered a perspective: the promise of hope and the reassurance of peace, no matter how difficult our current realities appear. What’s more, we are invited to participate in fulfilling the promise of peace by emulating the life and actions of Jesus. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ, a believer, a person of faith.
On this day of generosity in the Season of Advent, as we wait in joyful anticipation for the promise of new life, I give thanks for the blessing of Catholic Charities and for the lavishly generous way humanity is served when hope, peace, joy and love are needed the most.
Kerry Alys Robinson is President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.