Lent has begun! What a glorious time to take stock of our spiritual health and reassess our relationship with God and neighbor. Lent is a penitential season in the Catholic Church and other denominations. A quick lesson, penance is not meant to be a punishment though it usually follows after some sort of crime or mistake. Penance is self-mortification or self-denial in order to gain greater spiritual freedom. It is a tradition to pick a penance for Lent for the express purpose to challenge our discipline. A part of the penance is a commitment to almsgiving or giving your “treasure” to those who need it more to you. Is it a con game or is there a deeper spiritual truth to giving money to the church?
The practice of giving money to the church is called tithing. The biblical roots go far back to the time of Abraham who gave a tenth of what he had to Melchizedek. (Genesis 14:20) Tithing itself was a part of the Mosaic Law as well. (27:30) Even today, it is a well known image of passing the baskets around to take up a collection. The act of tithing is not strictly enforced by most churches in the Catholic Church. It is strongly recommended to donate to the church and even a precept of the Catholic Church to help provide for the needs of the church. However, the precise percentage or amount is left to prudential judgement. The spirit of giving is supposed to be emphasized more so than the amount. After all, we don’t want to be like the rich people who already receive their reward form the adoration of the people. (Matthew 6:2-5)
It is almost to everyone’s chagrin that there is no exact amount. If there is a clear fee, then people may pay it. If the people are told to rely on their generosity, then some people will do less and fewer people would do more. Prudential judgement can be annoying when we just want to make sure our obligation is fulfilled. The truth is that there is no dollar amount that needs to be met. There is no quota for the Average Catholic. One Catholic is not more valuable because their monthly offerings is greater (though it may play out like that, unfortunately). Enforcing a strict monetary contribution may lead to grave injustices than leaving it to prudential judgement.
What is the reason to donate at all? Let us go beyond the practical explanation that the Church must pay its bills. Let us not even talk about the demands of ministry and the non-profit services the church provides. Let us not even talk about the renovations and capital campaigns that seems to never end. On the contrary, let’s get selfish. What is the benefit to us to donate money?
The Average Catholic has income and expenses like most people. We work a job or have some form of income and take that money to pay our bills. There’s debate about whether or not our tithing should come straight out of our paychecks or after we pay our bills. I don’t want to talk about that. For the sake of argument, let us take our tithing from after we pay our mandatory bills. These bills are the rent, utilities, loan payments, or any bill that would immediately impact your quality of life if it does not get paid. We have an amount to work with even before we think about common expenses such as groceries or gas. This is before the “free money” which is what we get after all financial obligations are taken care of.
We have an amount of money to tithe from but also the responsibility of daily living. If we are pinching pennies, then we could be experiencing the stress of financial insecurity. How are you going to pay the groceries, but also make sure you live a life that makes you happy? The future is unknown and fills us with dread because we are not confident in our finances to handle any unexpected shocks. What if I told you tithing is supposed to directly challenge this insecurity?
I know I know I know. If you need xyz dollars to pay the bill, then no amount of donating to the church can fix that (Sorry prosperity gospel believers). Tithing seems to be another burden to give to those who are already drowning with financial obligations. It is true that it is another thing. It is also true the church has mercy on those who truly do not have treasure to give. However, even if we are truly without money that does not excuse us from adopting the spirit of giving found in the Gospel.
Not just poor people, but rich people have financial insecurity as well. Jesus offers a warning to those who have plenty to give in Mark 12:22, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Having too much money offers its only challenge. Albeit, a challenge that most of us would prefer to have. Yet, tithing directly challenges that financial security of fear or unwillingness of giving too much.
Why do we have a fear that we won’t have enough money in the future? Where are we lacking faith, or confidence, or trust? Is it in our jobs, support network, economy, ourselves, our dependents? Tithing is an act of faith before anything else. If we believe God will take care of us, then why are we hoarding wealth? I say this as someone who has consistently scored shamefully low on the “Giving” charism in the spiritual charism workshops. It is not instinctual for me to give, because its not how I express or receive love. Yet, a spirit of giving is a natural fruit of prayer.
A spirit of giving naturally develops when we realize that all of our material possessions are gifts from the Lord and all things are ordained to glorify God. Yes, we have bills to pay and retirement to think about. BUT God commands us to not worry. As Jesus Says:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
— Matthew 6:25-34
Think of the fear that we condition ourselves to possess. “I can’t give to the church, because what if something bad happens?” To be clear, I am assuming that we have money to give. If our bank account is at a negative balance, then, no, don’t give to the church. If we do have money to give, then what stops you?
Tithing is God’s insistence that what you currently have is not just enough, but more than enough. We have a narrow perception of the world. We think in terms of what is in our control and what are we certain will happen. We fail to appreciate all of the possibilities, because we are not omniscient like God is. Perhaps, our fears would disappear if we could predict our financial security. A beautiful thing about salesmen or entrepreneurial roles are their risk tolerance and relentless optimism of positive outcomes. Why not give money to the church? The money can be made back! We will be able to handle anything that comes our way!
No, tithing is not some sort of con game where the church guilts you to give money for no reason. Ideally, all the money donated has a allocated purpose that helps builds up the kingdom of God. For our own soul’s health and spiritual well being, we must tithe to cultivate that sense of financial security. There have been times when I was making pennies on the dollar. Yet, I wanted to buy my friend lunch, not because I could afford it, but because I wanted that feeling that I was financially secure to provide.
Once we realize how little that we need, then the more we are willing to give. There was one time I was short on groceries and the kind lady next to me offered to cover the difference “because she believed in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.” I was super embarrassed in the moment, but I received a generosity from someone I didn’t expect. I also had an unmerited expectation that all of my groceries were needed. That false expectation of need left me paralyzed. If we cultivate an attitude of detachment, then we are able to let go and give up what we have.
I pray you have a wonderful Lent and reinvigorate your love for God and neighbor. Lent is a good time to sacrifice the little goods in our lives to make room for grander goods. Almsgiving and tithing is no different. We offer money that otherwise would be in our bank account to help provide for the needs of the church. The money we have may sit in a bank and gather dust. Or it can be given to a non-profit or some worthy cause. Will we need it in the future? Probably. Is that a today problem? Probably not.
We must have an accurate assessment of what we truly need in order to have the greatest amount of financial freedom. Otherwise, we risk being held hostage by fear of the future. Jesus commands us to not worry about the future. It is difficult to do so with the economic situation of the day. Have Faith that all will be fine. If you aren’t able to provide, then perhaps your neighbor will. If your neighbor is unable to provide, then perhaps God is removing a good in your life to give you an even greater good. All of this is scary and feels irrational. But try to grow in trust that everything will be fine at the end of the day and another day will continue on. God does not want us living in fear. Tithing is our commitment to having faith that all of our material needs will be satisfied by the God who created us.
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