A gift in your will is a wonderful way to provide for the people and causes you care about.
We also offer a free guide to making a will and a will-writing service.
Obayedul travelling by boat.
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.
Today’s gospel presents us with a beautiful image of extravagant generosity: a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over…”
Our acts of generosity can make such a difference. Obayedul, a farmer in Bangladesh, recalls how difficult things were after particularly severe flooding. The water rose so high that he had to climb on the tin roof of the house and for some time the family had no food at all. Even when the waters subsided, the waterlogged land made it hard for him to grow anything for them to eat.
Now, things look very different. Obayedul has received training in floating plant beds, in which food can be cultivated regardless of rising water levels. His crops are thriving, and he shares the skills he has learned with others in the village that he loves, helping the whole community.
Obayedul reflects with joy: “Just as I have improved my life with the help of Caritas, I hope that Caritas will train and make many more people self-reliant this way, so that poverty is eradicated.”
We all have something we can offer to others – the gift of our time, energy and attention. Like Obayedul, let us try to use our talents to help our neighbours, whether locally or globally.
Prayer
Merciful God,
we thank you for your gifts.
Give us generous hearts,
inspire us to share our own gifts,
our time, our talents, our care,
so that, through us,
others may know your love.
Amen.
Act
One third of our work helping people out of long-term poverty is made possible through gifts in wills. Thousands of our supporters have helped people like Obayedul out of poverty by leaving a gift in their will to CAFOD. Find out more about how we use these gifts; download a useful guide to making or rewriting your will; or access our free wills offer.