What’s going to make us happy in these fear-filled times?

Let’s admit to the temptation of our present age that calls us to emphasize personal protection and security, the need to defend, guard, and preserve, the need to ‘look out for number one,’ and to save not share.

But is that really where it’s at?

In 2011, the top 20% of Americans gave 1.3% of their income to charity. Presumably this was because they felt they did not have enough to be more generous – they needed to hold onto more in order to be happy.

In contrast, the bottom 20% gave away 3.2% to charity – more than double, almost triple what their wealthier counterparts gave away.

Now the propensity for lower income people to be more generous than wealthier people is well documented, though its benefits are not nearly as well known.

The fact is that countless longitudinal surveys reveal one consistent measurement of happiness: warm caring relationships. Financial success and the acquisition of material goods rank considerably lower on the list of factors that create contentment. In fact, wealth can become, and often is, a curse. Famous psychologist Karl Menninger once commented that over many decades working in mental health, happy and content people are more likely to be generous people.

All this comes to mind as we head into the Christmas home stretch, and particularly on a Sunday when we will hear a related gospel reading. If we want to have the best Christmas ever, it may mean putting less emphasis on ‘stuff’ and more emphasis on cultivating warm caring relationships. It will call us to generosity and sacrifice, kindness and liberality of heart.

May God give us the faith to be charitable and giving, as well as the assurance that in his hands, we can be as generous as he is.