I was speaking in a classroom of third-graders one day about kindness and generosity. I asked the kids why we should do nice things for one another. Hands popped up: “Because it’s the right thing to do.” “Because it makes the other person feel good.” “Because then they’ll be nice to you.” Then a girl […]
Events
Not Giving As Giving
We are all generous to greater or lesser degrees. And we are all generous in different realms. We’ve learned to be openhearted in some areas but not in others. It’s good to take stock of just where and when we are and aren’t generous. Once we’ve become conscious of our habits, we have more freedom […]
Giving Is Living
There was a farmer who was a premier corn grower in his community. His corn was always sweeter and better than anyone else’s, and it always won the blue ribbon at the county fair. At the end of the growing season, he would take his seed corn, the corn that would be sown the following […]
God Is No Thing
One of the central functions of the dark night, he says (referring to St. John of the Cross), is to convince those who grasp after things that God cannot be grasped. In John’s native Spanish, his word for God is ‘nada’. God is no-thing. God is not a thing. And since God is not a […]
God’s Humor
So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And […]