A very merry Christmas! May you celebrate Christmas heartily despite Covid!
As we exchange presents this year, let’s remember that the best gift we’ve received is the gift found in the manger in Bethlehem. And as Fr. Tom Fanta once pointed out to the children of St. Dominic School, God wrapped his gift in a beautiful way: Mary, the holy and sinless young woman from Nazareth.
This is a good week to resurrect an old reflection that I used with students. The original author is unknown.
Persons Are Gifts
Persons are gifts which the Father sends me wrapped. Some are wrapped very beautifully; they are very attractive when I first see them. Some come in ordinary wrapping paper. Others have been mishandled in the mail. Once in a while there is a ‘Special Delivery!’ Some persons are gifts which are loosely wrapped; others very tightly.
But the wrapping is not the gift. It is so easy to make this mistake. Sometimes the gift is very easy to open. Sometimes I need others to help. Is it because they are afraid? Is it because we are afraid? Does it hurt? Maybe they have been opened up before and thrown away.
Could it be that the gift is not for me?
I am a person; therefore I am a gift too. A gift to myself first of all. The Father gave myself to me. Have I ever really looked inside the wrappings? Am I afraid to? Perhaps I have never accepted the gift that I am… Could it be that there is something else inside the wrappings than what I think there is?
Maybe I have never seen the wonderful gift that I am. Could the Father’s gifts be anything but beautiful? I love the gifts which those who love me give to me. Why not this gift from the Father?
And I am a gift to other persons. Am I willing to be given by the Father to others? A person for others? Do others have to be content with the wrappings…never permitted to enjoy the gift? Every meeting of persons is an exchange of gifts. But a gift without a giver is not a gift; it is a thing, devoid of relationship to a giver or givee,
The best friendship is a relationship between persons who see themselves as they truly are: gifts of the Father to each other, for others…brothers, sisters. A friend is a gift not just to me but to others through me. When I keep my friend and possess him, I destroy his ‘giftedness.’ If I save his life for me, I lose it; if I lose it for others, I save it.
Persons are gifts, gifts received and given . . . like the Son! Friendship is the response of person–gifts to the Father – Giver.
The Christmas season is time to ponder the incredible gifts of God: salvation, Eucharist, creation.
• What can you give God in return?
