Generosity

 “'If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,' and she (Lydia) prevailed on us." Acts 16:15

Every now and then we come upon a person in the scripture who stops us in our tracks, who makes us think in bigger terms and invites us to change. Lydia is such a woman. Who is this woman in a patriarchal and hierarchical society who owns her own home, and one that was large enough to invite others not only to visit but to stay? Clearly successful as a cloth merchant, she was newly baptized and wanted to offer Paul and Silas a place to rest, eat and be refreshed, and no doubt also wanted to learn more from them about Jesus. Her generosity not only gave Paul and his companions more time to preach God's word, it also have her and her family access to a wisdom and dream that had captured them.

Offering and accepting generosity is an important virtue for believers. Realizing that most of us have more than we need, we learn that giving to others freely, even from our substance, changes us. Likewise, accepting the generosity of others humbles us and keeps us grateful.

Today, be like Lydia. Offering your bounty and person to others with joy.

Whose generosity has touched and shaped you in faith?

We are God's Chosen

  "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." Jn 15:16

Being chosen for anything is always affirming, even at those times when we would rather be ignored. As children we were chosen for teams on playing fields and in schools. As adults, some might encourage us to run for public office or a parish council. Whatever it is, when others see in us some quality that they would like in leadership, we are lifted up.

Jesus chooses us all to be servants leaders of his Father and those most in need. Sometimes we wonder about this. Does the Lord see something in us that we ignore or downplay? Does God look only at our strengths? Or does God choose us because we are all equally God's children, sons and daughters who together present an image of God's love in which others can discover God's love for all? While these questions remain open, that God calls each of us does not. We are the chosen of God, and while we can reject this call, God does not stop calling. God has a role for each of us, a way to be in the world that gives honor to God is ways beyond our imagination. 

Today, rest in the realization of your personal call to  a life of faith?

Have you ever experienced God's call in a particular situation or circumstance?

Lifting others Burdens

   "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first." Jn 15:18

Hate is a strong word which most of avoid. It never seems like a word or an emotion that builds life within or among us. All of us have read of people who so hated themselves because of some serious fault that they took their own lives, and while we know this makes no sense, we understand it. More important, we hear of families and nations who hate one another, and avoid contact with those they hate at all costs. Even thinking about the hated one brings deep distress.

Jesus was hated by the leaders of his own society because he challenged their interpretations of the law and their haughtiness towards the poor. Imagine what it was like for the leaders when he looked at them and insisted: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!"  Enraged and threatened, the Pharisees plotted to kill him because he told the truth. The gospel is intended "to bring glad tidings to the poor... to proclaim liberty to captives...and to let the oppressed go free," (Lk 4:18) not to "lay heavy burdens" on their shoulders while doing nothing to help them. (Mt. 23:4)

Today,  ask yourself whether you are laying "heavy burdens" on others without being willing to help.

Who has been an inspiration to you because of their efforts on behalf of the poor?

Sts Philip and James

 "Have I been with you for so long a time and still you do not know me, Philip? Jn 14:9

Sometimes it is amazing to acknowledge how little we know about ourselves and others with whom we live even after many years together. In part, this is a result of the culture of individualism and privacy that so pervades U.S. culture, but it is more than that. Too often, busy about so many things, we fail to spend time, even waste time, with ourselves, our families and God.

Being with others is rarely revealing all at once. Only time spent listening to others with our hearts over the course of many years affords us real knowledge of the other. Learning to waste time with God  and others each day, despite its frustrations, will allow us to know and love God and the people with whom we live more deeply. More important, it affords God the opportunity to tell us more about God.

It is a small, but significant, comfort to know that even the apostles suffered from spiritual “blindness" and "deafness.” Philip does not know the Lord after years spent with him, but perhaps after the Lord’s correction, Philip will listen more to Jesus’ teaching about who is and from whom he comes.

Today, take five minutes to be quiet. Do not worry about distractions.

Who most impresses you with their ability to be quiet and listen?