Lectio: “We have done what we were obliged to do.”
Meditatio: Many of us would like to rest here. Many of us constantly count the cost of what we do and compare our contributions with those of others. Usually we find that others seem to be slacking and consequently, we get a raw deal in life. In the end, we grow cold, and in our lives we do in fact only do what we absolutely have to do in a legalistic calculating game.
Yet all of us are called to be lovers, not accountants. Many of us are in covenanted relationships where we promised to give freely of our love: in marriage or in religious life. Even in these situations we find ourselves counting what our spouses or brothers and sisters do for us. Isn’t love supposed to disregard all that? Isn’t love supposed to find joy in serving the beloved? What stops me or slows me down? Self. My fat SELF. Always demanding more than his share, always flattening any noble enterprise that I might undertake. Ridiculing my beautiful and glorious marriage vows by saying, “You couldn’t have been serious!”
God, in all of nature around us, has shown Himself to be totally profligate in His gifts. Nature gives of her abundance all the time; it is simply the armies of accountants who stifle the free flow of these goods throughout the world.
Imagine a banquet where everyone sat with masses (literally masses) of delicious food around them. There was only one rule at the banquet: the guests could not take anything for themselves; they could only give food to others. In theory, as the food was so abundant, the meal should have looked very joyful with happy faces giving and giving as fast as they could. But instead it was different. In spite of the abundance of food, so much that someone could not possibly quantify it, the guests only looked at their own plates, and looked suspiciously as others put food on them, and then were careful to measure out exactly what had been brought in (or less). Instead of smiles, there was only the drawn miserable faces with lines of worry. It takes great stupidity to ruin paradise.
Is my marriage like this? Are our communities like this? Am I like this? Can I love unilaterally, or do I have to wait for multilateral agreements so that I am sure that I will get my share?
Oratio: Dear God, You have already loved me and continue to love me without reserve. Please help me not to worry about what I can get, but just help me to study the science of what I can give. Dear Mary, please pray for me.
ROSARY and LECTIO DIVINA, Michael127 