“Now concerning the ministering to the saints,
it is superfluous for me to write to you”
– 2 Corinthians 9:1 –
In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul keeps encouraging generosity. He highlights the value of trusting in God and serving people, which will lead us to better fulfill the mission.
The apostle says that the harvest will correspond to sowing (v. 6). We must plant a lot if we want abundant fruits. The chapter concludes with gratitude for “His indescribable Gift” (v. 15), which is Christ, our Lord.
That is why we should be like Maradona. No, I am not referring to Diego Maradona, the former soccer player, but to Dr. Esteban Laureano Maradona, a man who was upright, helpful, caring, and generous like few others.
Dr. Maradona was born in 1895, in the city of Esperanza, Santa Fe, in Argentina, and studied to become a doctor at the University of Buenos Aires. He was also a scientist, professor, botanist, writer, and reporter.
When he was forty years old, the course of his life changed forever. He was travelling by train toward the north of Argentina, to visit his brother. The old locomotive stoppped in the small town of Formosa. In the hills, a woman in labor was teetering between life and death. And that is where the doctor headed. Maradona was able to save the mother and the baby.
When he returned, the train had already left. A multitude of sick people asked to be helped, and yes, he stayed there. During the next fifty years he cured lepers, dealt with bullet wounds and gangrene, helped with deliveries by moonlight, and was a pediatrician without running water. He never accepted payment. “With the oxygen in the air and the water that falls from heaven I have enough. I don’t have any reason to complain,” would Dr. Maradona say over and over again.
He died in 1995, at ninety-nine years of age. He was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize and was awarded the United Nations Public Service Award. But his greatest accomplishment was working with Indigenous people and the poor, who surrounded him with affection and recognition for his humility and his dedication to his profession.
He summarized his own life this way: “If any merits assist me in the performance of my profession, they are very limited. I have done nothing but fulfill the classic oath to do good. It has often been said that living in austerity and solidarity means giving up oneself. In reality, it means completely fulfilling the magnificent purpose of which we were created.”
Like Dr. Maradona, or better yet, Paul and Jesus,
let us live by giving ourselves completely,
because “That is what I consider true generosity:
you give your all, and yet you always feel
as if it costs you nothing” – Simone de Beauvoir –
Let us give our all, may you be blessed…