Daily Meditation for May 15, 2024

Have you ever noticed how, on a beautiful sunshiny morning after several rainy-grey days, total strangers will smile at one another as they pass? Their smile seems to say, “We have something in common, something wonderful. We don’t have to compete for the sunshine—it’s pure gift, and there’s plenty for everybody.” That experience must be something like the experience of Jesus’ disciples at Pentecost. When the Spirit came down on them, they understood that God’s love was more inclusive than they had ever imagined. God’s love was not measured out by teaspoons to the “worthy” as their love so often was. God’s love was freely offered to everybody, Gentile as well as Jew. The Spirit was calling them, and the Spirit continues to call us, from a worldview of scarcity and competition to a worldview of abundance and cooperation in which there is enough, and more than enough, for all. How will you share God’s gifts of abundance today?

By Delores Dufner, OSB