Lenten Reflection - Thursday, 1st Week:

God Always Gives More Than Enough

"Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will you give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7.9-11

God is a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity. The Hebrew Scriptures attest this divine plentitude, manifesting a God who leads the Israelites to a "land overflowing with milk and honey" (Ex 3:8). Jesus reveals to us God's abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps, and when he enables his disciples to catch so many fish that their boats nearly sink. God doesn't give us just enough. God gives us more than enough; more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.

God is a generous giver, but we can only see and enjoy God's generosity when our hearts and minds are unclouded and unfettered. When we are full of demands or attachments, we narrow our vision only to those peoples, things, and conditions that we think will make us happy. We resent what we did not get and miss the plentiful gifts offered before us. We remain distant from God and unable to experience what God truly wants to give us, which is life and life in abundance. Moreover, we close ourselves to God when we, as individuals or societies, take more than what we need, thereby restricting others' access to God's bountiful gifts.

Lord, help us to live gratefully and simply, so that others may simply live.

adapted from Henri Nouwen