The wonders of Christmas giving

During the November 9 Ecoland Sto. Niño GKK mass, Fr. Zaldy Abonales talked about Literature Nobel Prize winner Tagore who wrote about kindness. A king went to a beggar who thought the king will give him money. Instead, the king said, “Friend, give me food from your bag.” He had very little rice in his bag so he gave the king 2 pieces of rice grain. The king thanked him saying, “tomorrow you will be surprised and happy.” Next morning, the beggar opened his bag. He found 2 gold nuggets.

This is a story taken from an insurance pocket diary. Five horsemen while crossing a river heard saying “Stop” so they stopped. The voice said pick up stones, put it in your bag and tomorrow you will be happy and sad. They did as they were told. Next morning, they opened their bags. The stones had turned to gold nuggets. They were happy they had gold. They were sad because they did not fill all their bags with stones.

November 11 is the first of St. Martin of Tours. He was a great French general. One very cold winter, he inspected the defenses of his fort. In the dark, howling winds, and snow, he saw a very thin almost naked shivering bent man looking at him with pleading eyes. He disregarded it. On almost entering his warm fort, turned back. He cut his thick woolen coat into 2, gave one half to the beggar and used the other part for himself. That night, he had a bad, restless sleep. In his dream, he saw a man who wore the half of his coat. When the man turned around, it was the face of a sorrowful Jesus. He resigned as general and became a priest. He was so kind, especially to the poor, that he became a saint.

When someone begs and you have something to give, think the beggar may be an angel, a saint, one who died because nobody cared.