What makes a gift truly meaningful?
In this reflection, Fr. Bill Murphy, CP, shares a story from ministry in Honduras and reveals how even a small act of generosity can become a profound expression of love and unity. Through the example of Father Ovidio and the powerful words of Pope Francis, we are invited to see almsgiving not as charity from a distance, but as participation in the mystery of the cross.
We are all beggars. We are all almsgivers. And in the cross of Christ, we find the treasure from which every true gift flows.
This meditation invites us to reflect on humility, privilege, healing and the transforming power of Christ’s love.
A Lesson in Honduras
The setting of my almsgiving story is Honduras. While serving there as Passionists, we were not poor like the people to whom we ministered. We tried to live humbly, but we were privileged. And privilege can make it difficult to truly be one with another person.
I worked alongside a priest named Father Ovidio, a very humble and very poor man. Together, we traveled outside the city to small churches on the margins, out in the countryside among farming communities. The homes were simple, the roads were dirt, and the people lived with very little.
The Gift of a Dollar
I remember the elderly women who would come to greet him. They approached with hands extended, asking for alms. Father Ovidio would walk up to them laughing and say, “Grandma, where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.” They would laugh together and share a joyful moment.
He never turned them away. He always had something small in his pocket to give, often just a dollar. It wasn’t the amount that mattered. They knew they were cared for. They knew they were seen.
What he showed me was that even a small gift, given from the heart, is a treasure. He knew them, he loved them, and he was truly one with them.
The Cross as Our Alms
Two summers ago, Pope Francis visited Canada and met with First Nations peoples. He came to offer an apology for the deep wrongs committed over many years. In a profound way, he was offering alms.
He said: “Jesus does not offer us nice words or good intentions, but the cross. To the traumatic experiences that no human consolation can ever heal, our eyes must be lifted up to the crucified Jesus. It is precisely on the tree of the cross that sorrow is transformed into love, death into life, disappointment into hope, abandonment into fellowship, and distance into unity. Healing is a gift that flows from the crucified Lord, a grace that must be sought.”
We might also say it is an alms that must be asked for.
Even with privilege, you and I are beggars. And we are also almsgivers, sharing in the mystery of the cross in which we glory. There we find our treasure chest, from which we receive the alms we are called to give.
