Give and gifts will be given to you …

Give and gifts will be given to you …

shaken down, and overflowing …

Luke 6:38

It's an odd thing in our culture that the most generous

among us are so often those with the least.

Maybe they already know that what they have is gift.

They know that they are not entitled to it,

so they are willing to share it with those around them.

Affluence seems to cloud this knowledge:

The more we have, the more we seem to have a

sense of entitlement. "I've worked hard to get where I am"

is a sentiment we affluent tend to have,

as though working hard enough were enough.

But each of us who has "made it" has to have had some break,

some opportunities that others didn't have

or couldn't take advantage of for reasons beyond themselves.

No one is truly self-made. Indeed, we have already been

showered with gifts "shaken down and overflowing."

I pray that all of us can someday see that everything we have

is gift and give to others out of the great abundance God promises.

Aileen O'Donoghue

O Loving God, give me the grace to share generously today

with those less fortunate than I. Amen.