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“It is in giving that we receive.” 

— St. Francis of Assisi

This sounds like a pleasantry, but it is actually a provocation.

Most of us are wired to assume that receiving comes first, that we give from surplus, and that generosity is what happens after our own needs have been sufficiently met. Put plainly, we will be more generous when we have more. 

We will give more time when we have more of it. We will open our hands when we feel secure enough to let go.

St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century Italian friar who gave away everything he owned, including the clothes on his back, lived as though this logic were exactly backward. He did not give because he had enough. He gave because giving was the only way to discover what enough actually meant. The open hand, he found, receives differently than the closed one. Not necessarily more, but more freely. [...]

#philosophy #spirituality #catholicsaints #podcast

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📌 Chapter Markers:

0:00 Introduction 
0:25 Quote 
0:35 Meditation 
2:35 Practice 
3:00 Closing