Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Be well, do good work, stay in touch *
Monday, March 17, 2014
Luke 6:38
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Hindus call this the Law of Karma. A version is present in all religions. Jesus emphasizes the positive and pictures a marvelously cornucopic bushel basket running over with love – given and received.
A healthy ego knows this is a truth of the universe. What I breathe out, I will breathe back in. This is true in the physical world, and in our relationships too. This principle is at the heart of life. As I sense its power, I stand in awe. Sometimes it knocks me onto my knees. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Carbon dioxide kills me unless it is transformed into oxygenated air. Jealousy kills me unless it is touched by peace. Bitterness kills me until is touched by mercy. Greed wrecks my life until it is blessed by generosity and patience. I need these gifts from God, from within myself, and from you. We need each other.
Ron Rolheiser says there are many reasons why he believes in God, and this is one of them: the “non-negotiable moral imperative at the heart of the universe and heart of our lives.” Aquinas calls it the “good.” It is a true and beautiful part of today for us both. For all of us. Live well.
We are your children, and you are our loving Father. You invite us into your abundance, and we have only to accept. Say yes. There is no end to your invitation, and your creativity goes down into the hells of our own making to invite and then invite again, and always we can still say yes. When we can refuse your absolution, Lord? Never. Never. Always you are forgiving. Your presence forgives us. And your presence is right here. Wherever I go, you are here.
* This phrase is how Garrison Keiller ends his “Daily Almanac, a five minute public radio show he hosts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer’s_Almanac
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1246
