Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus – In return for so much, what shall we give back?

These noble words taken from psalm 116, v.12 emblazon the official stationery of my home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. And, like so many rich sentiments taken from other languages, something is lost in the translation and something gained through poetic license or free interpretation. Perhaps this is a kind of proof that in the very act of giving, the giver receives, and upon receiving, both giver and receiver are mutually enriched in the economy of giving.

In any case, I had cause to think of these noble words recently when I celebrated “Lughnasa”, the Celtic Thanksgiving feast of the harvest by “gathering” in a few close friends who fill my stores with all I need to sustain me through the winters of my life. And like the farmer who looks at the fallow field, I ponder what next to plant there and what yield it might bring – or whether the time right for planting at all, or whetherI should I wait another year.

In the economy of Thanksgiving, there are elements of the art and science of knowing what to do, and often they work in tandem. And, as the noble heart works in tandem with sound judgment and prudence, so it is in giving that we receive and in being thankful or grateful that we dispose ourselves to receiving more.

In hopes of being like the good steward of the harvest drawn, I find myself looking around and through my abundant stores, furrow my brow and wonder if I have done enough to secure and protect what I have labored long and hard for. Will there be enough for me and mine in the winters ahead? Should I have done more or consumed less in order to build up my stores? Such is the heavy burden of richness and good fortune!

In all of the pondering there is one thing I must do before I rest, and that is to Give Thanks for so much I have already received, for only then can I begin to answer this most noble and humbling question: In return for so much, what shall I give back?

Dermot Rodgers joined the CIBU administrative staff to assist with special initiatives with the Office of the President, including the Academic Support Program.