Often we ask is this value for money? Are we receiving what we paid for? This attitude seems to be inbred within us as a natural reaction to how we spend our money and our time. We want to know that we receive something of value which respects our own worth and identity.
In the scripture we notice how people dispense their offerings to those in need to draw attention to themselves rather than seeking the good of the other by offering their whole self. What we discover is that we need to be focused on the person in front of us with the resources at our disposals. This is not just about how we share our material resources but how we are attentive to the person as they are. We can often appear distant and distracted rather than attentive and loving. This is where we treat the gift that we are giving as though it was a person and the person we are giving our time to them as a thing. We might not say it in our words but our bodily attention is not present to them. We are there and not there at the same time. I know when this happens to me that as if I go missing in action and I am observing the other person from a place which treats them in an I and them experience rather than an I and thou engagement. I seem to space out and remove myself from the equation.
What Jesus invites us to attend to is to notice when this starts to happen and when we start to distance ourselves from others. Once again this is the difference between being close to someone and being proximally in their presence. We are called to be both but it is how we move from the inside out by seeing our prayer lived in our actions. This unity is what God wishes for us to be lovingly present in both what we pray for and how we relate to others. We see all our life as prayer, not just the times when we choose to be present. We offer everything.
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