More than Expected

Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
Alleluia!
Lk8:15

Today's Gospel Acclamation is taken from Luke where Jesus is explaining the parable of the seeds to his disciples. The rich soil in the parable represents those people who hear God's Word and keep it with a generous heart.

This acclamation precedes the sorry tale of John the Baptist's beheading through the treachery of Herod's wife, Herodias. John heard God's word and was generous in his perseverance in keeping it. Where is his happiness in his beheading? Obviously this scene is not the end of John the Baptist's story. Heaven awaits him. 

To be generous is showing a readiness to give more of something, especially money, than is strictly necessary or expected. There is a guaranteed happiness in generosity. It can come in this world or the next, when doesn't really matter. The point is to have a disposition of generosity. 

Jesus, help me have an open hand and give more than is expected, like you.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.