God's grace is not a scare resource!

It is easy to cheer for your side when they are winning but it is much more difficult to voice the same support for another side who seem to be competing for the same prize. There can be a sense in which the competition to seek after something good means that we exclude another. We can recognize this even in economics where prices are set by the scarcest resource. There is a temptation to transfer this belief in scarcity to the realm of God. We hold tightly on to hard won victories, we can restrict our prayers to those we know and limit our support to people who seem to be on the same side as ourselves. However, the God’s providence love and mercy does not show the same partiality. It is extended to all people in every generation. It is a spirit of creativity and life which is over abundant.

As Christians we are called to recognize how our lives are called to resound with the same sense of creativity and thankfulness. This is demonstrated not just in how we pray but also in how we live. This is never truer than when we reflect on how we welcome people who flee persecution and war. While we seek peace for them, we also should not turn on backs on those in desperate need. We recognize that it is the corporal acts of mercy that we see the miracle of God’s grace evident in our actions for the good of all.