Sister Bridget Haase - Generous Faith: Stories to Inspire Abundant Living

Generous Faith

STORIES TO INSPIRE ABUNDANT LIVING

Sister Bridget Haase,OSU

PARACLETE PRESS

BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS

Generous Faith: Stories to Inspire Abundant Living

2013 Third Printing

2009 First and Second Printing

Copyright 2009 by Bridget Haase, OSU

ISBN 978-1-55725-615-7

Scripture references marked NAB are taken from the New American Bible with Revised NewTestament and Revised Psalms 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of theBible, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haase, Bridget, 1942

Generous faith : stories to inspire abundant living / Bridget Haase.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-55725-615-7

1. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4515.3.H33 2009

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press

Brewster, Massachusetts

www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

WITH GRATITUDE TO MY

Ursuline Sisters around the world, each with a story to tell

CONTENTS

SECTION REFLECTION

PART TWO

SECTION REFLECTION

PART THREE

SECTION REFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

I f youre like me and countless others, the question, Is this all there is to life? creeps up from time to time. Challenging both philosophers and prophets, the question weaves itself into the basic building blocks of our everyday lives. This haunting question may invade our thoughts at a new home act-of-sale, or at a job promotion party, or at a tragic death, or even at a family picnic. In these moments what we have always wanted, or perhaps what we have most feared, seems to stop us in our tracks and dull our hearts with a sense of incompleteness and subtle meaninglessness.

Hungering for this elusive more in life, we waste time and energy in a quixotic search for deeper meaning. We look in the nooks and crannies of life to satisfy our desires or assuage this sense of emptiness. We are left with the feeling that life has shortchanged us and has offered us far less than we had hoped for. We begin to anxiously measure our life by the years we have left and panic when we find ourselves caught in a subtle web of discontent and imperfect answers.

While Generous Faith: Stories to Inspire Abundant Living will not take away your search or eradicate your feelings, my hope is that this book of stories will satisfy some of your hunger, revitalize your energy, and surprise you at what is right there under your feet. I am convinced that this is all there is to life and it is quite enough, for in the air we breathe, and in this very moment, the abundant life is available to us.

In order to cultivate this awareness, I offer three basic practices: living in the moment; trusting in divine care; and experiencing Gods presence.

This book is not a how-to guide containing methods, techniques, or even a list of dos and donts. Neither is this book a manual of exercises to complete, nor an easy step-by-step program for instant success. Rather, here is a collection of stories that will open your heart to these three practices, giving shape and face to the abundant life.

Although these stories are about other peoples lives, they may mirror your own journey. They are presented without explanation or evaluation, but they will challenge you to reexamine the path of your life. The power in these stories will not only evoke your experiences, but they will also transform you as you find them changing your perspective on your daily life. As you meet these people and think about their stories and reflect upon your life, you may be astounded to discover how abundant your life already is.

As you spend time with these spiritual tutors and personal trainers, you will begin to connect the dots and see how your past, personal encounters and experiences frame the person you are today. You will understand that a passing conversation with a stranger can powerfully reveal a mutual search for meaning in life. You will realize that we do not need to seek abundant life anywhere else. It is right here, right now, under our feet, and in the air we breathe.

This is all there is to life and it really is quite enough.

You may be puzzled at the title of this book. You may even be curious as to why the word generous is used to complement the word faith. If you find this an unusual coupling of words, perhaps this will pique your interest and set your wheels in motion to think more deeply about your own spiritual life.

The word generous originally comes to us, by way of the Old French, from the Latin word for noble stock. Its characteristics are courage, magnanimity, a largesse that implies a larger-than-life vision. With this understanding as a backdrop, we will meet people who flesh out the meaning of what generous faith is all about. These people believe in their divine noble stock as children of God; they see in the dark and give big-heartedly until it hurts; they trust beyond all odds and rejoice in ordinary things. Living beyond mere optimism, they exude the grace and the hope of the abundant life that is under their feet.

This title asks us to go one step further. Generous faith impels us to mine, with integrity, fortitude, and abundance, the faith within each of us. By digging deeply, we will discover a reservoir of divine marvels, and we will come to realize that we are to offer a lavish, reciprocal response. In so doing, we will enrich our own lives and the lives of others as the people in these stories did.

This book is divided into three parts. Each section follows the same format: a reflection on a practice for the abundant life; a collection of real-life stories, each ending with questions to help you mine your own faith and to enrich your own life; and a series of short pauses that will take you a minute to read but days to digest.