"There is more happiness in giving than receiving". We must thank St Paul, and St Luke as the author of Acts, for recording this "word of the Lord Jesus". This saying is not recorded in the Gospels, but we instinctively know that it is the kind of saying that fits in very well with Jesus and His value system. The saying is actually a "beatitude" and has the same power to challenge us as the other beatitudes do such as "Blessed are the poor in spirit".

In a world where there is so much greed and acquisitiveness, these words will strike many as being far too unrealistic, just as the other Beatitudes are considered utopian and unrealistic.

Jesus, of course, did not elaborate on His beatitudes. Here, He did not explain what the happiness precisely consists of. All Jesus' sayings are open-ended and so can be applied in quite a variety of situations. Even if we confine our consideration of these words to a spiritual level, we can see how revealing they are. Whenever we try to use our limited resources to guide, or counsel, or console anyone on a spiritual level, we discover how much more we receive than we could ever give. It is almost as if giving increased our capacity for receiving.