Imitating God's Generosity

In the great crowd of people who were present at the multiplication of the loaves and fishes by Jesus, I wonder how Andrew happened to find the boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. I suspect that Andrew might have shouted out, “Does anyone here have something to eat?” It’s likely that those with food avoided eye contact, looked down at their feet, or ignored the question, continuing their conversations. However, before his parents could stop him, one child with a generous heart and a desire to please ran up to Andrew with a small basket of bread and fish.

This humble offering was all Jesus needed to create an abundance of food for more than 5000 hungry pilgrims — with twelve baskets left over.

Often we believe that what we have to offer is too small to make a difference. We might be embarrassed by how little we have to offer or reluctant to give up the little that we have. Children don’t stop to think about these things but follow their impulse to be generous, which is one reason Jesus said, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Everything we have, including our very being, has been given to us by God. When we imitate God’s generosity by sharing what we have with others, we can trust that God’s abundance will overflow in our lives. What we have is enough; who we are is enough. That belief and our trusting heart is all Christ needs to work wonders through us and our own humble offerings.

A Conversation Without Words

Once you make time to “listen with the ear of your heart,” as St. Benedict advises, you discover that God is a sparkling conversationalist. You also learn that God often converses without words. “God spoke today in flowers, and I, who was waiting on words, almost missed the conversation,” said Ingrid Goff-Maidoff.

Thomas Keating observed that “God’s first language is silence,” which implies that to hear what God wishes to communicate to us, we need to escape the barrage of words that constantly surrounds us. People who come to the Mount often comment on how peaceful it feels here, and I think part of what they are responding to is the periods of silence we intentionally cultivate as part of our prayer and the rhythm of our day.

One way we ourselves communicate with others silently is through gifts we give them or things we do for them. Gestures such as baking cookies for a friend or cleaning the car windshield of a family member are ways to show we care for them. It’s not a stretch, then, to believe that God does the same with us — wishing us good cheer with flowers, comfort with the shade of an oak tree, sweet sustenance with a crisp apple.

Once we learn God’s language, which typically does not entail the use of words, we discover that the creator of the universe has scattered love notes for us pretty much everywhere we look. Blessed are those with the eyes to see.

Home Sweet Home

It’s worth noting that according to the creation story in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, God created plants, water creatures, and land animals before humans. Thus these other life forms had created homes for themselves on earth before humans came to be. This is important because, as Sarah A. Bowen observes, “...every location on our planet is a home for someone. That means I need to be sensitive when I enter another’s home.”

When we dig into the earth to plant gardens and crops or to build structures or roads, we are crossing into the abode of worms, fungi, roots, and insects. When we go for a swim or a boat ride, we are diving into the home of fish, crustaceans, and water plants. When we erect tall buildings or take plane trips, we are affecting the air quality and migratory patterns of birds that claim the skies as their home.

It is in our best interest to respect the habitats of other life forms, because we need them to sustain our own life. Trees provide us with oxygen and help clean the air. If we didn’t have bees and insects to pollinate plants, many of our food sources would disappear. By absorbing the carbon generated by our use of fossil fuels, oceans protect us from living in an even hotter and stormier world.

When we visit the homes of family or friends, it is common courtesy to be respectful of their space and customs and to clean up after ourselves before we depart. We should carry that same spirit of reverence when we enter the homes of non-human life forms, for they too were created by God and merit our respect and care.

Our Need To Be Seen

One wonders why Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples who took refuge behind locked doors after Jesus’ death. Was he sent out to buy food, or perhaps to gauge the level of persecution they might be facing as disciples of Jesus? Did he have to attend to urgent family business? Whatever the reason, his absence made him an outsider after Jesus appeared to the other disciples. They saw Jesus, and he did not. The others were reassured by Jesus’ presence, and he was not. Thomas must have felt sidelined, overlooked, jealous; no wonder he responded with defensiveness, belligerence, and bluster: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Thomas really didn’t need to see Jesus’ wounds; he needed Jesus to see his wounds. He needed reassurance that he too was beloved, that he was worthy to be in Jesus’ inner circle, that he mattered to Jesus. By addressing Thomas directly at the time of his next appearance, Jesus let Thomas know that he was seen and he was blessed, while also affirming those who are able to trust in Jesus’ love for them despite their wounds.

Thomas isn’t a particularly prominent character in the gospels; he is only mentioned twice, as opposed to Peter, James, and John, who seemingly accompanied Jesus everyone. And yet Thomas’ story has endured through the ages and continues to speak to us today — perhaps because we are all wounded, we all need reassurance, and we all need affirmation of our value and worth. Jesus knows this, as he knew it of Thomas. Thus if we, like Thomas, continue to show up and stay in communion with our fellow disciples, we too will experience Jesus’ presence, and our soul will know it’s worth.

Trusting God's Wisdom

Moses makes a very interesting statement to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:2: “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, you shall not add to to what I command you, nor subtract from it.”

It’s easy to understand why we shouldn’t subtract from the ten commandments that God entrusted to Moses. For example, skipping the part about keeping the Sabbath when we’ve got a ton of work to do undermines the underlying purpose of this commandment. Keeping the Sabbath teaches us that our self-worth is not to be based on what we accomplish but on our relationship with God, which requires setting apart time to be with God.

But why would Moses caution that we shouldn’t add to the commandments? I can think of two reasons. First, adding a commandment such as “Thou shalt tithe 20% of your income to the Church” is more likely to feed the ego’s desire to appear more holy than everyone else than to be a true act of generosity. Second, by choosing to add an easy-to-fulfill commandment — such as, say, “Thou shalt volunteer at your church’s food pantry once a month” — one can avoid focusing on a commandment one finds more challenging, such as “Thou shalt not covet” (thy neighbor’s new iPhone, spouse, job, etc.).

St. Benedict was aware of these traps, for in Chapter 49 of his Rule, “The Observance of Lent,” he says that each monk should share his Lenten resolution with the Abbot so it may be done with his prayer and approval. Why? The monk may unconsciously be seeking glory or avoiding needed reformation in his life through his choice of what he will or will not do.

The psalms constantly proclaim God’s wisdom. Thus we should (1) trust that God carefully crafted the commandments to help us mature in our relationships with God and our fellow human beings, and (2) resist the lure of pride, which leads us to believe that we know best how to conduct ourselves. God covered what we need to do in ten commandments — no more, no less. As it says in psalm 86, “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.”

Called By Name

In a recent New York Times article,¹ it was reported that elephants apparently have their own language and call each other by name, and that “social bonding is fundamental to everything about elephants.” What really caught my attention was a statement by a researcher, Dr. Wittemyer, who said that this commonality between elephants and humans might well benefit elephant conservation efforts, because it might “help us recognize ourselves in them, which is the only way we seem to understand anything.”

Unfortunately, human understanding does seem to be limited by our need to relate everything to our own experience. We find it hard to believe that any non-human form of life (plants, for example) may have its own type of consciousness if it doesn’t communicate through sound, use tools, and live in social groups as we do. God, who knows us intimately, understands our need to recognize ourselves in the things we relate to and came up with a very creative solution in order to be known by humans — God took on flesh and became one of us in the person of Jesus.

Now we know that God is compassionate through Jesus’ acts of healing. We know that God is forgiving through Jesus’ parables. We know that God grieves through the tears Jesus shed when his friend Lazarus died. We know that God suffers through Jesus’ passion on the cross. We know that God raises everything that dies to new life through Jesus’ resurrection.

God is so much more than we can grasp — and yet, thanks to the Incarnation, we know enough to trust in a God who loves us, walks with us, and continually calls us to new life. That grace is more than we could have hoped for at this stage of our unfolding existence and is a cause for deep gratitude.

1.     Golembiewski K. Every Elephant Has Its Own Name, Study Suggests. The New York Times, June 10, 2024.

A Rock Solid Image of God

I love trees and gardens, but mountains? Not so much. I’ve spent little time in mountanous regions and they just aren’t part of the landscape of my soul, so to speak. 

In the Bible Jesus is referenced as spending time both in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Mount Tabor, so clearly he resonated with images of both trees/gardens and rocks/ mountains found in the psalms. I, on the other hand, need to work on expanding my appreciation for all God’s creation and how it informs my spiritual life.

The following observation by Christine Valters Paintner was helpful in this regard: “Stones are an icon of grace; they reveal to me a face of the Divine that endures and is ever-patient with the world’s unfolding.”

In the midst of a society where humans have become programmed for speed, productivity, and instant results, it is comforting to know that God who is ever patient. As I feel myself aging and encounter the fragility of a growing number community members and friends who are dealing with illness and dying, it helps to remember that God endures and that we who share God’s life endure too.

Although I’ll never have the stamina to “climb every mountain,” maybe it’s time for me to add a stone to the landscape of my soul (or at least to my prayer corner).