A significant, and often abused, part of our celebration of Christmas is the exchange of gifts. Too often we forget the original reason for giving: We give because of the gift of mercy and salvation which the Father gave us in Christ. In this holiday God reveals Himself as a God of compassion and love. In other words, He is a God who gives. Our salvation rests on that truth. The Gospel tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3: 16). Giving involves the sharing of oneself with others. In His Nativity, our Lord shared Himself with us.
To give is a fundamental human need. We human beings are created in the image of this giving God. Therefore, we have a need to give because giving is part of our nature. Christ made this point repeatedly in His parables and in His encounters with others. This need to give lies behind His challenge to the rich young man (Matthew 19: 16-30) and the familiar story of the rich man and the poor beggar (Luke 16: 19-31). Our Lord sums up His will for us by declaring, “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5: 48). Just prior to this verse He has been speaking of our sharing of ourselves with others through love, patience, forgiveness, and generosity.
Our exchange of gifts at Christmas should symbolize and remind us of these facts. Giving is an expression of love, and as St. John says, “we love because He first loved us” (I John 4: 19). We know what love, giving, and sharing are because the Word of God, out of His love for us, has given Himself to us in order to share with us the blessings in this world and eternal life in His Kingdom. Daily we see evidence of God’s compassion and concern for us, beginning with the gift of life itself. Our daily blessings affirm His promise of the ultimate blessing, the greatest act of love, the gift of salvation which He has pledged to His faithful servants. Every blessing confirms God’s love for us; every blessing is a guarantee of the coming of His Kingdom.
Giving, like almost anything can be turned to evil, if rooted in wrong attitudes or prompted by wrong motives. Like God, Satan also promises to give us things, but Satan’s gifts are not blessings. They are like the candy a kidnapper uses to lure a child. God’s blessings are an opportunity for us to grow spiritually; they make us richer in the things of the soul. Satan’s gifts tear down rather than build up. They may help us materially, but they twist or corrupt us spiritually. Moreover, Satan’s gifts always demand something from us in return, something at least morally questionable.
God’s blessings, even when He gives us material things, are always spiritually fulfilling, opening up to us new ways to serve Him. God does not ask any payment from us in return, certainly nothing immoral or sinful. He does ask, however, that we strengthen our communion with Him and grow in His grace. Whatever He asks will be fulfilling for us as individuals and as human beings, because it is only in communion with God and by sharing in His life that we can be truly fulfilled human beings.
Therefore God’s blessings, whether personal talents and skills or material possessions, carry with them a vocation and a mission which, when realized, will bring us closer to Him. This means that God gives us talents and wealth so that we may devote some of our time for service to His holy Church and a portion of our resources to its support. We must remember these obligations as we approach next month’s annual parish meeting. Then we will outline our parish’s course for the coming year and determine what portion of our time, talents, and money each of us will pledge to accomplishing these tasks. But we can make these commitments in the right way only if we have already committed “ourselves and each other and all our life unto Christ our God.” We must first dedicate our hearts and minds to the Lord. Only then will we be able to rely on the guidance of His Spirit to teach us how to use our abilities and resources according to His will. Only then can we learn to give of ourselves with the same love and generosity that God revealed at His Nativity, when He gave Himself to us.
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