The Service Of Peace

Peace is Shalom --- well-being of mind, heart, and body, individually and communally.
It can exist in the midst of a war-torn world, even in the midst of unresolved problems and increasing human conflicts.
Jesus made that peace by giving his life for his brothers and sisters.
This is no easy peace, but it is everlasting and it comes from God.
Are we willing to give our lives in the service of peace?

--Henri Nouwen

Am I willing to give my life in service of peace?

Drinking the Cup

After firmly holding the cups of our lives and lifting them up as signs of hope for others, we have to drink them. Drinking our cups means fully appropriating and interiorizing what each of has acknowledged as our life, with all its unique sorrows and joys.

How do we drink our cups? We drink them as we listen in silence to the truth of our lives, as we speak in trust with friends about ways we want to grow, and as we act in deeds of service. Drinking our cups is following freely and courageously God's call and staying faithfully on the path that is ours. Thus our life cups become the cups of salvation. When we have emptied them to the bottom, God will fill them with "water" for eternal life.

-- Henri Nouwen

The Temptation to Hoard

As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: "There's not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency," or "There's not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I'd better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it" or "There's not enough love to give to everybody, so I'd better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me."

This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won't have enough to survive.

The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands. – Henri Nouwen

Seeing the Miracle of Multiplication

The opposite of a scarcity mentality is an abundancy mentality.
With an abundancy mentality we say: "There is enough for everyone, more than enough: food, knowledge, love ... everything."
With this mind-set we give away whatever we have, to whomever we meet.
When we see hungry people we give them food.
When we meet ignorant people we share our knowledge; when we encounter people in need of love, we offer them friendship and affection and hospitality and introduce them to our family and friends.
When we live with this mind-set, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, love ... everything.
There will even be many leftovers.

‑ Henri Nouwen

God's Generosity

God is a god of abundance, not a god of scarcity.
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 (see John 6:5-15), and when he makes his disciples catch so many fish that their boat nearly sinks (Luke 5:1-7).
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 we love God with all of our hearts, minds, and strength.
As long as we say, "I will love you, God, but first show me your generosity," we will remain distant from God and unable to experience what God truly wants to give us, which is life and life in abundance.

-- Henri Nouwen