THE JOY OF LETTING GO | KAIROS GLOBAL | MAY 2024

Author: Jithin Kapallumakkal

Intro: Bro Jithin Kapallumakkal writes about giving until it hurts.

A note written by the world famous fashion designer, blogger and author Kirzida Rodriguez before dying of cancer, goes like this, ‘The world’s most expensive car is lying in my garage but I’ll have to sit in a wheelchair. My house is full of designer clothes, shoes, and expensive things, but my body is covered by a small sheet provided by the hospital. My house is like a castle but I lay in a twin size bed in the hospital. I went from one five star hotel to another. But now I’m spending my time going from one lab to another in the hospital. I had seven beauticians to do my hair – not a single hair on my head today. In a private jet, I could fly anywhere but now I have to take two people’s help to get onto the hospital porch. Although there are many kinds of food around the world, my diet is two pills in the day and a few drops of salty water at night. This house, this car, this jet, this furniture, so many bank accounts, all this fame, none of it is of any use to me. None of it can give me comfort – which I can only get from the faces of some lovely people, and their touch.’ 

Nothing is truer than death. We need not want any further explanations, it summaries the verses from the Gospel of St Matthew 16:26: For what will it profit a man if he Gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

When we look into this rich young man’s life let us reflect – what gives us happiness and contentment? Money, power, and pleasure are not bad in themselves. A person needs these to survive. When one makes them the centre of everything it becomes a threat to his faith for it takes away time to pray and to believe in the power of God. It prevents a person from recognising them as a need for daily existence. We are now invited by Jesus to strengthen our faith and to be available for others who are in need. We will never be happy like the rich young man if we allow secular needs to overpower our life. May we be free from all discontentment, possessiveness, greed and selfishness and that we may have joy in knowing, loving, and serving Jesus.

Have you heard of this statement, ‘This is the meaning of true love, to give until it hurts’? This was and still is one of the famous quotes by Saint Teresa of Calcutta given during her address at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on 3 February 1994. It is an act of giving all that we have, be it finances or services until we feel the pain of our sacrifice. 

Giving until it hurts can be easy for some people but to others, it’s hard to practise. It is also clear that God doesn’t want us to give without free will or without love. It is not pain or hurt that we should be feeling, but rather making that choice to give and to give happily. If we help others with the right intentions, we will be helped as well, to reap what we sow. One can only give if he/she has the ability for it. In Mother Teresa's speech, she mentions ‘give until it hurts’ eight times. But in her last mention, she adds, ‘give until it hurts – with a smile.’ She reminds people of God's love for them; that it is through his love that we can keep giving. 

Let us pray let us reflect for God’s grace, May God bless each one of us. Amen.