2 Cor 6:1-10 / Matthew 5:38-42
There is a prayer that goes like this: Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will.
To say that kind of prayer is certainly like "asking for it", in the sense that it is not a prayer to get something but a prayer of total giving.
That prayer is composed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, and he calls it the "Prayer for generosity".
But we might think it is a prayer that we probably would not want to say. Because it takes too much to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for reward.
But that prayer of St. Ignatius is similar to what St. Paul is saying in the 1st reading: We prove we are servants of God by great fortitude in times of suffering: in times of hardship and distress; when we are flogged, or sent to prison, mobbed; labouring, sleepless, starving.
St. Paul was able to say all that because of the grace that he had received from God and he was begging the Corinthians not to neglect the grace that they had received.
Because it will be by the grace of God that they will be able to receive the help from God to overcome all trials and difficulties and also to receive the salvation from God.
The grace of salvation will enable to have the spirit of generosity such that we can offer the other cheek and to go the extra mile.
When we have received the grace of salvation, we will be truly generous, and we will give and not count the cost, fight and not heed the wounds, toil and not seek for rest, to labour and not ask for reward.
The only thing we will ask for is to serve the Lord and to do His will.