Generosity Reflection by Matt Musel, Grants Management and Writing Coordinator
Generosity: Voluntarily sacrificing our personal interests for those of our neighbor, neither doing good to others out of self-interest nor neglecting appropriate self-care.
Generosity is not simply about giving money, volunteering time, or offering one’s wisdom In the end, it is about love. One is generous, not because of what one gives, but because of the spirit in which the gift is given. A favorite prayer of mine, attributed to Saint Vincent de Paul, makes the connection between generosity and love clear to me: It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give to them.
As a fundraiser, I assist benefactors in the process of their giving; but, and more importantly, I help benefactors grow into their generosity. This might be surprising, but just because a person has accumulated financial resources, it does not necessarily follow that the person understands what this money means. In his monograph, A Spirituality of Fundraising, Father Henri Nouwen compares the meaning-making of giving to an experience of conversion. The love one experiences in the giving can bring the benefactor closer to the divine.
Through a generous and self-giving love, one person honors another person, allowing the other to become more fully themselves. Among his many attributes, our University president, Father James Burns, is uniquely able to transform the gifts of our alumni and supporters into experiences of Christ’s love. Our Lasallian tradition teaches us that this authentic Christian love begins in the classroom between teachers and students. As a Saint Mary’s student in the Ed.D. program, I have experienced this love, generously and abundantly offered, time and time again, in our classrooms.
In my four years at Saint Mary’s–as an employee as well as a graduate student–I have seen how miraculous generosity can be. A love that began in the classroom, on a student’s journey of learning, can become an act of generosity so significant and impactful that it can last for generations. As Saint John Baptist de la Salle and the Christian Brothers have shown for centuries, this love can be magnified to build schools and universities.
