Daily Meditation for May 17, 2022

After my father died, my mom moved into a small apartment where a number of other family lived. There were widows, widowers, families with children, single men and women. Mom experienced some loneliness and isolation, so she often left the door of her apartment open, so people could wander in and out. She hardly ever ate a meal alone, often inviting someone else who may be lonely. Even though her car did not function very well and her cash was very limited, she would pick up her friends to go to a card party or to go shopping so that they did not have to spend their money. In one of Joan Chittister’s Journals, this quote seems to speak to me of my Mom. “Hospitality is the act of the recklessly generous heart!” As we continue to celebrate our mothers during the month of May, would it be a special gift to our world to be pleasant and attentive to others that cross our paths? It seems like that may help to heal some of the pain that our world is experiencing at this time and it may help us develop that “reckless generous heart!”

By Michon Lanners, OSB