The Ultimate Yard stick

by: JUAN L. MERCADO

The over 5,000 priests, attending Second Congress for the Clergy, chipped in P988,675.36 for Haiti earthquake victims, Inquirer reported. Deeply moved, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales topped that up to P1million.

There has never been any argument about aid in emergencies. We are our brother’s keepers. Filipinos are no slouch either, as their help for storm “Ondoy” victims showed.

The differences simmer elsewhere. Should sharing continue even in calmer times? How? And, more controversially, how much?

Haiti shoved up front, the “tithe”—the practice of setting aside 10 percent of one’s income or goods for others in the Lord.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts,” prophet Malachi wrote (3/10 ). “Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessings upon you without measure?”

“Try me in this” is a dare to experimental generosity,” former Science and Technology Secretary (now Asean official) Filemon “Jun” Uriarte and wife Jean write. Test if you can outdo God in generosity.

Abraham did donate a tenth of war spoils to Melchizedek, King of Salem, we read. Jews brought 10% of the harvest to a storehouse. It was an Old Testament welfare plan for the needy or a buffer against famine.

Muslims give a zakat to charity. The zakat is usually 2.5% of the market value of a believer’s assets each year. Mormons must give 10% to the church. The tithe has been the Episcopal Church’s “minimum standard” since 1982.

In the Philippines, the Catholic Church does not compel tithing. The choice is left to individuals. Some respond generously. Resistance to tithing deepens with the “mega church effect.” Churchgoers question how their churches spend money. “Like other philanthropists today, religious givers want to see exactly how their donations are being used,” Suzanne Sataline adds.

“Growth of megachurches— some with expensive worship centers equipped with coffee bars and widescreen TVs — have turned people off of tithing.

More Filipinos are challenged to engage in experimental generosity because of massive poverty. The Uriartes and other pro-tithers pitch their case in terms of personal experience.

“Amen, I say to you. There is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come (Mk 10:29-30).”

So, what really is the ultimate yardstick here?

The copper coins that a widow dropped into the collection box was dwarfed by donations of the well-heeled. The rich gave of their surplus, the Master noted. “But this widow gave more than the rest because she gave all that she had.” (E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com )