Giving More than We Take

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | May 18, 2026

Immediately preceding His Ascension into heaven (cf. Matthew 28:16-20), Jesus commands His followers to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Blessed Trinity, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” He concludes with an astounding promise: “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” St. Matthew commits the promise to writing as the closing words of his Gospel. Either the promise is piously sentimental, or it carries an astonishing truth.

Jesus is true God and true Man. In Him, God and man, faith and reason, are reconciled. In His glorious Resurrection, He restores the integrity of both body and soul, wounded by sin, and He restores God’s good creation. We rightfully understand science as the study of God’s handiwork. Scientific truths, like the truths of faith, reveal and glorify God.

Why do we celebrate the Lord’s return to the Father as the second glorious mystery of the Rosary? Does the integrity of creation and human nature disintegrate after the Ascension? Certainly not.

His glorious return to the Father completes His mission, and He mysteriously brings our earthly humanity to the Father. With the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, we are incorporated into His Mystical Body, the Church, and He gives us the privilege of continuing His work through our free cooperation with Him.

Through us, Jesus reinforces the integrity of His Incarnation! Hence, we encounter Christ in the Church, in the Sacraments, in priests, and in human goodness. In His Mystical Body, Jesus unites many members into life in Him.

As members of His Church, we do not lose our identity. As Scripture reminds us, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)

Jesus is present in the Sacraments, above all the Blessed Eucharist. Under the appearance of simple bread and wine, Jesus becomes sacramentally present when the priest says the words of institution, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” Baptism is the foundation of all the Sacraments, and the Eucharist is the pinnacle.

Mass is not a sterile technical exercise. Mass is a living community and communion of believers, including saints, sinners, and even rambunctious children. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) Church tabernacles adorn the Divine Presence for our worship throughout the year.

Christ works through Holy Orders to make Himself present to His people. Beginning with devotion, continuing with habit, and now, perhaps, a small touch of sloth, I routinely wear my clerics—my priestly garb that signals my office as one of God’s ordained. I am pleased to report that I’ve never been insulted as a priest…outside the parish.

Some time ago, I entered a store a couple of hours away from my home parish. A fellow (without guile) approached me and asked for advice. With some wariness, I said I’d be happy to speak to him after I made a purchase. I’d meet him in the parking lot.

He said he hadn’t been to Confession for several decades. He asked me how to proceed. I identified the general location of his parish and told him to pick up a pamphlet near the confessional. He could also contact the pastor for instruction. The man responded that he was more comfortable with an older priest. (I glanced around for another priest to no avail.)

So I spent the next several minutes teaching him how to make a good confession: no need for details, just the nature and number of sins to the best of one’s ability. For example, I said, “here is how someone might proceed”. (I pretended to go to Confession using the Ten Commandments as a guide.) When I finished, he said, “Exactly!” With good cheer, I gave in and told him he could make his parking-lot confession if he so desired. When I granted absolution, he was a very happy camper. A very pleasant encounter indeed.

There is nothing quite like the Sacrament of Penance, where we examine our conscience, articulate our sins, confess them to Jesus through the ministry of a priest, receive God’s forgiveness with a sense of certainty, and go our happy way in freedom. With the inviolable “seal of confession,” our secrets are safe—even from those pesky Internet data trackers.

We find Jesus wherever members of the Church live decent and upright lives. A retired Navy man once told me he instructed new officers to leave the ship better than they found it. Good advice. The Blessed Trinity is generous, and God created us in His image and likeness. We encounter the Blessed Trinity in every act of authentic generosity. It is holy and righteous to pray each morning for the grace to give more than we take.

When Mary said yes to the Angel, the Word was made flesh. God and all humanity were reconciled in Christ, the “Mystical Body of Humanity.” Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Every good act inspired by grace brings Christ to others.

Some sentimental stories are worthwhile parables. The old story about the little girl throwing starfish into the sea after a storm comes to mind. An old man points out the futility, and the little girl picks up another starfish and tosses it into the sea, insisting: “It made a difference to that one.” The charming tale reflects our Christian duties, as long as we live according to the words of Jesus.

Jesus is present to us in His Church, the Sacraments, in the clergy, the laity, and in every person of goodwill. Jesus is always present in human generosity. God conquers evil not when we take our fair share, but when we give more than we take.