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L. Shannon Jung, Food For Life
Hospitality became an expression of the covenant relationship with God and with human beings. Through our hospitality, we imitate the love and generosity of God. We respond to God's hospitality by exhibiting compassion and justice to all. We are especially to insure that the hungry are fed, that unjust distributions of wealth are adjusted, that the land is protected, that justice is done, and that the outcast is welcomed at table.
Hospitality is a covenant relationship
Madeline Ko-I Bastis, Heart of Forgiveness
Part of not stealing is being able to ask for and graciously accept what is needed.
There is enough for everyone. Generosity in sharing my own resources is part of the precept as well. In addition to material things like money and time, I can share my spiritual wealth as well — offering encouragement, mindful listening, and kind words.
There is enough for everyone
Ram Dass, Paul Gorman, How Can I Help?
Fear is the mind's reaction against the inherent generosity of the heart. Because the heart knows no bounds to its giving, the mind feels called upon to define limits. Under such tension, little wonder our choices of how to respond to the pain of others seem so difficult.
Fear is the mind's reaction against the generosity of the heart
Jack Kornfield, Roadsigns
The sacrifices of a family are like those of any demanding monastery, offering exactly the same training in renunciation, patience, steadiness, and generosity.
The sacrifices of a family
Wayne Teasdale, A Monk in the World
Accompanying our efforts, and the contribution of grace in our own mystical development, must be a total commitment to following the guidance of the virtues, like faith, hope, love, patience, gentleness, courage, generosity, and joy. These extend the divine life within us to those around us, and their practice has lasting effects on others and on us.
Following the guidance of the virtues
The One Great Sadness
We can then see our own suffering as a voluntary participation in the one Great Sadness of God. . . . Within this meaningful worldview, we can build something new, good, and forever original, while neither playing the victim nor making victims of others. We can be free conduits of grace into the world. — Richard Rohr
Recently, my young cat named Oliver struggled with a painful illness, and it occurred to me that my own deep sadness over his distress was something much bigger than me. Remembering a line from Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, I even found myself saying, "It is the Great Sadness." It was as if my cat's suffering was noted and felt and permeated with that same Great Sadness that mourns the death of bees, that same Great Sadness that feels the groans of refugees and hurricane victims and gun violence. Yes, that same Great Sadness feels the suffering of this tiny gray rescue cat. It is the one Great Sadness of God, a sadness that invites us to participate. And when we do, we become channels of grace to the world.
We can then see our own suffering as a voluntary participation in the one Great Sadness of God. . . . Within this meaningful worldview, we can build something new, good, and forever original, while neither playing the victim nor making victims of others. We can be free conduits of grace into the world. — Richard Rohr
Recently, my young cat named Oliver struggled with a painful illness, and it occurred to me that my own deep sadness over his distress was something much bigger than me. Remembering a line from Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, I even found myself saying, "It is the Great Sadness." It was as if my cat's suffering was noted and felt and permeated with that same Great Sadness that mourns the death of bees, that same Great Sadness that feels the groans of refugees and hurricane victims and gun violence. Yes, that same Great Sadness feels the suffering of this tiny gray rescue cat. It is the one Great Sadness of God, a sadness that invites us to participate. And when we do, we become channels of grace to the world.
We Are Takers
You are the giver of all good things....
We are takers, who take from you,
day by day, daily bread,
taking all we need as you supply,
taking in gratitude and wonder and joy.
And then taking more,
taking more than we need,
taking more than you give us....
Give us peace beyond our fear, and so end our greed....
Turn our taking into giving ... since we are in your giving image:
Make us giving like you,
giving gladly and not taking,
giving in abundance, not taking,
giving in joy, not taking,
giving as he gave himself up for us all,
giving, never taking. Amen.
An excerpt from Walter Brueggemann's prayer on giving and taking.
Encourage Employer Donation Programs
Throughout history, flourishing democracies have been known for their generosity and willingness to sacrifice for others. One proof of this is the number of charities and nonprofit organizations that regularly receive support from individuals, corporations, and government agencies. In The Better World Handbook, authors Brett Johnson, Brian Klocke, Ellis Jones, and Ross Haenfler suggest that you find out whether your workplace encourages charitable giving. Does your employer have a charitable donation matching fund program, or does it offer the option to take an amount you specify from your paycheck to go directly to the charities you chose? If it doesn't, ask if they would be willing to start one of these programs.
Regardless of your employer's participation in a donation program, you can create your own ways of bringing together your workplace and the social and environmental impacts that are important to you. Here are some possibilities:
Ask for charitable donations instead of gifts for your next birthday, promotion party, or other celebration.
When your office plans to hold a party for either an employee or a client, advocate for donating the money that would have been spent on the party to a cause of that employee's or client's choosing or a cause that relates to your work.
Not all company donations have to be monetary. Here are some ideas for non-monetary giving:
Organize a lunch-time bake sale to benefit your favorite charities.
Organize lunch-time meal deliveries to people in need.
Organize a gift collection, like knitted blankets for hospital patients, persons who are homeless, or nursing facility residents, and deliver the gifts during a lunch break.
Organize a collection event. Leave boxes in a lobby or break room for art supplies or used sports equipment you can donate to after-school programs, care kits or winter clothes for homeless shelters, unused makeup and perfume for a women's shelter, stuffed animals for hospitalized children, baby clothes and supplies for new parents, books for a library, and so forth. A powerful way to host a collection event related to food is to hold a fast-at-work day to coincide with collecting food you can donate to the local food bank.
Organize a chores-for-another weekend. Identify an individual or individuals in your community that could use help with errands, housework, or yard work. Gather volunteers from your coworkers, and set a schedule.
Organize a carpool.
Once a month, invite a person who is food insecure to share a lunch with you and your co-workers.
Organize a home-alone safety class for children or self-defense workshop for people of all ages.
Proposals for bringing your work together with your favorite causes.
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
This charming documentary charts the magical moments in the 60-year marriage of Harold, a Hollywood storyboard genius, and Lillian Michelson, who ran a research library used by filmmakers to learn more about the history, customs, and details presented in their screen stories. This movie, directed by Daniel Raim, revolves around interviews with 86 year-old Lillian which covers a time period from her meeting Harold in Florida after the end of World War II through his death in 2007.
Blessed with a keen visual sense, Harold impressed Hollywood producers, directors, cinematographers, and art directors with his "visual screenplays" charting incidents in frame-by-frame detail. His reputation grew through his sterling work on The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Spartacus.
Meanwhile, Lillian raised their three sons (one had autism) and then worked as a volunteer at a Hollywood research library. Eventually, she bought this center and ran it until she retired.
Lillian attributes the longevity of their marriage to their teamwork. In interviews with Harold, we sense his keen sense of humor and his loving nature as conveyed by poems sent to his wife throughout their relationship. Recollections from friends and colleagues, including Danny DeVito, Mel Brooks, and Francis Ford Coppola, testify to their humility and the kindness and generosity they lavished on others over the years.
It is delightful to learn that Alfred Hitchcock and Mike Nichols were two directors who acknowledged the importance of Harold’s storyboards in the enhancement of their films. One of the most iconic sequences in film history is the view of Dustin Hoffman through the extended leg of Anne Bancroft in The Graduate. That was Harold's vision.
Sidney Sheldon has written: "Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived." Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story is a tender and touching meditation on the legacy of a couple who did just that.
A charming documentary about a long-married Hollywood couple who made many important contributions to American movies.
The Legend of Saint Nicholas
Anselm Grun is a Benedictine monk who has written approximately 300 books that have been translated into 30 languages. He has taken the legends surrounding the life and ministry of St. Nicholas and patched them together in this children's picture book for boys and girls 4 through 8 years old. The paintings by Guiliano Ferri add immensely to the book.
Not long after becoming a priest, Nicholas used money inherited from his rich parents to save three girls who were going to be sold into slavery. God paved the way for him to become Bishop of Myra, and Nicholas's amazing feats at sea resulted in him becoming the patron saint of sailors. Then when a famine came to the area, he single-handedly turned things around for the community. It seems that his parents did well to name him Nicholas. which means "Victory of the People."
On the last pages of this book, we learn that December 6 is his feast day and that around the world, children leave their shoes or an empty plate in hopes that Saint Nicholas will leave something for them.
A simple and elegant account of the life and ministry of Saint Nicholas.