Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Official Report 759KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Colette Fagan, training co-ordinator in child protection, Roman Catholic diocese of Motherwell.

I would like to share with you some examples of giving in recent and not-so recent history. The example in the latter case is of course Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for all: for those who do not believe as well as for those of us who do.

There are other examples of people who excelled in giving. Father Maximilian Kolbe, who was a Franciscan priest, gave up his life in Auschwitz to save the life of a young married father. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran pastor and a fierce opponent of Hitler and the Nazi party, was killed because of his outspoken Christian beliefs. Mother Teresa of Calcutta loved and served the poor in India. She wrote,

“I have found the paradox, that if you love and give until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

Last but not least, Professor William Barclay, the Church of Scotland theologian, gave his life to the service of Christianity in his prolific and beautiful witness and writings.

In my young days, all those people were an inspiration of love and giving. Not all of us are called to such exemplary giving, but we share an ability to give something. All of us are called to it and to loving our fellow human beings, even if it is in small ways. A commitment to a hundred small daily givings in every country around the world could become a tsunami of love and giving if only we could truly believe in the power of human goodness and its ability to change the world.

Marvin Olasky said that

“Giving generously and giving forgiveness are at the root of knowing God”—

and, I would add, to knowing ourselves.

So what can we do? To name but a few things, giving a good example, giving ourselves to others, and giving our time, our forgiveness, our love and encouragement, our acceptance, our honesty, and our non-biased support and judgments.

I will end with a quote from Albert Schweitzer:

“I cannot accept life and its happiness as a matter of course, I must give something in exchange for it.”

Each of us must decide what is it that we can consistently give and give to all as and when we can. Will we be a part of the tsunami of giving? I hope and pray that we are.

Thank you for giving your time to me and I ask God to bless each and every one of you.