Tithing: It's Not All About the Benjamins

 This afternoon I got an interesting letter from a charitable organization that seemed to be thinking outside the box. Given the reform in tax law under Trump disincentized itemizing deductions (including charitable giving), our family, like many others, have not been donating as much to charities. That's not to say we haven't been giving--we continue to support our parish and St. Vincent de Paul, as well as writing checks for families in need who otherwise fall through the cracks of government assistance. Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) seems to be an effective way to offset the loss of tax-advantaged giving for individuals, since you don’t have to report the distribution as taxable income. The only caveat is you have to be at least 70 and a half (when one is required to take RMDs from an IRA).

When I do our retirement projections and crunch numbers, we stand to "earn" way more in retirement than we ever did by working (the magic of compound interest). So it's tempting to pivot: We can 'optimize' our giving and leverage it three or four fold if we bank what we would normally give during our younger years in our IRAs and earmark it for charities as QCDs when we hit 70 and a half. Most people use their RMDs for niceties, since its the icing on the cake in the "golden years," so why not put it to good (ie, better) use?

But I think this neglects to take into account that tithing is not for or about the poor--it's for and about us.

When I start to reason in this way, it sounds familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on where I heard it. Oh yeah...

“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to poor people?” (Jn 12:5)

How does the beloved disciple respond to Judas' shrewd optimization tactic?

"Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it." (Jn 12:6) 

Judas was thinking with an earthly mind. But what does St. John Chrysostom, a true lover of the poor, say?

“The rich exist for the sake of the poor. The poor exist for the salvation of the rich.” 

Of course we know our Lord has a different perspective than that of Judas (who does not think as God does) and recounts a lesson for the disciples in Lk 21:1-4 with the parable of the widow's mite:

"And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury,  and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”"

Giving 'til it hurts' is an exercise, just like physical exercise. It can be tough, but it conditions us to weave charity into the fusion of our secular and spiritual lives. It also teaches something (especially to our children) that money can't buy: generosity and faith, specifically through charity. It is the conditioning of the soil of virtue for future generations to reap from.

Like those who develop habits of virtue earlier in life, they set their trajectory towards Heaven and reap the rewards one hundred fold...even if its not in this life. They are like the wise virgins in the parable, with oil in their lamps and ready when the Bridegroom comes (Mt 25:1-13). Deathbed conversions are not as common as one might think, and changing one's trajectory at the last moment, while possible, requires a large infusion of grace and surrender. 

As tempting as my thoughts on back-loading and optimizing our giving through QCDs later in life, I don't think our giving should be about 'efficiency' and 'optimization.' There's nothing wrong with this (nor is there anything wrong with having a functional webpage or a friendly secretary at a parish, which can go a long way in evangelization, for instance), but it tends to miss the point: it's not all about the Benjamins. Giving is an exercise of the heart. It works clenched fists and kneads them into open palms. It erodes shrewdness and encourages generosity. It chooses messy encounter over keeping the poor at a distance with our checkbooks. The Lord God came in the flesh to serve, wash feet, and ultimately give his life for men. He was not concerned with eradicating poverty once and for all but that all men should come to salvation through His Holy Name and by His teaching. 

Does this mean we can sit back on our laurels quoting Mt 26:11 and do nothing? Of course not. We are called to "do the work" as it is given to us, and each to his own abilities and means. God gives us the grace, but expects us to exercise and sweat to attain virtue through self-denial and service to others. Charity is a sure way to learn in the school of love our savior was headmaster of.