Reflection
We exist by gratuitous gift. It has never been about what we deserve. We had no choice, nor did we do anything to earn our life or talents. We have no claim to a sense of entitlement. In gratitude we love as best we can as long as we can, preserving this earth, giving without expecting anything in return. We recognize the gifts of others and respect them. We acknowledge their rights as consistent with our own. We honor the common good. Our giving is not measured in time spent but in the generosity with which we respond to the opportunities we have to heal this earth and help it to nurture all life. We are part of the whole.
Prayer
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1
Action
Be willing to share, to give time, energy, and resources for the benefit and welfare of others. Recognize and be glad in the gifts of others. Do not put your own presumed rights against the rights of others. Work in any way you can for the common good.
Suggested Reading
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:14-17
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.
1 Thessalonians 1:2
Together we can rejoice in the longing for unity which the Lord has awakened in our hearts, and which makes us look with hope to the future.
Pope Francis
Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.
Dalai Lama
To be rich in admiration and free from envy, to rejoice greatly in the good of others, to love with such generosity of heart that your love is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness – these are the gifts which money cannot buy.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.
Harold Coffin
True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share.
Suze Orman
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
Albert Pike
The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mahatma Gandhi
Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion.
Rumi
Giving is a miracle that can transform the heaviest of hearts. Two people, who moments before lived in separate worlds of private concerns, suddenly meet each other over a simple act of sharing. The world expands, a moment of goodness is created, and something new comes into being where before there was nothing. . . . But true giving is not an economic exchange; it is a generative act. It does not subtract from what we have; it multiples the effect we can have in the world.
Kent Nerburn
Generosity is about giving without a guaranteed return — it is about the ‘giveaway.’ I believe that the true moral path of the twenty-first century will be very different from the path of the modern era because it will be marked by generosity.
Matthew Fox
Make extravagant generosity your greatest vice and become God-like.
Edward Hays