Generosity: Life Lessons from a Trappist Monk#13

In this series of blog posts, Life lessons from a Trappist Monk, I share the wisdom of my late friend Brother Rene, who was a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani for over fifty years. For many years we corresponded by letter, and here I share excerpts from his letters.

All God asks and what God dearly wants is our desire. Desire is God’s voice speaking in our Hearts. Desire is a gift to us. It is the longing of the heart for its fulfillment. You cannot long for something that is not there. By that I mean you must have God already in your heart in order to have a deisre for Him. — excerpt from Brother Rene letter, dated August 8, 2004

At this time of year, as spring bursts forth with surprises all around us, I find myself drawn to reflect on generosity. I have a friend whose name for God is generosity. I really like that. We live in the heart of Divine generosity, and the ever flowing generosity of creation. Can we allow ourselve to tap into our desire to connect to it?

I just finished reading, The Impact of God, by Father Iain Matthew and in it he writes, “We are trained to cope as social beings by keeping our desires within realistic limits. But where God is concerned, the problem lies in our desiring too little, and growing means expanding our expectations; or rather, making his generosity, not our poverty, the measure of our expectations.”

I love this quote, because I find that I get caught up in focusing on my poverty, on what I lack, what I am not enough of, and what I need to overcome. But the invitation is to turn towards the love of Divine Generosity, with all my desire, and with great expectations just as I am. This is what is being offered to us: God’s absolute love. Can we really take it in!

Ian Matthew is inviting us to think differently about our desires, and to allow ourselves to have great expectations for God to fulfill us, and to trust in divine generosity.

Practice:

• Meditate on the generosity that holds your life—the sun, the water, the food, the flowers and more!
• Reflect upon Divine generosity, on all the ways that God is pouring out love on the world.