8. You are a gift!



www.colourbox.com

 

Last Christmas, one of the teens in our church’s youth group was trying to think of creative gift ideas for his family members. The main reason for his creativity: he didn’t have a lot of money. So he decided he was going to wrap up a large box and climb inside, and present HIMSELF as a gift to his sister.

There’s something in that kind of a gift that is both delightful and disappointing. I mean, let’s be honest.... It’s like the time I gave my brother a pair of his own pants for Christmas. (That’s right). I’m sure this young man’s sister was expecting to receive something new, something she didn’t have before. But her own brother? Awww…. I already know you! I’ve known you for 16 years.

It is fun to receive new things. In fact, I quite enjoy this cultural tradition of gift-giving on Christmas and birthdays!

But how do I receive the people who walk into my life each day? With this same attention? With the same joy? Actually, most often, I am distracted, indifferent, or worse, keeping a distance behind walls of fear, pride or judgment.

I already know you. I’ve known you for months….years.

Maybe for my birthday this year, someone needs to jump out of a box (or a cake!) for me and remind me that the real gift is not new “stuff” but the person right in front of me.

A gift far more precious than money or merchandise is the gift of human life…..of YOU! Although God has no need of man, He chooses to bestow life upon him as a free gift. Man, in his all his complexities and his distinctive beauty, is a gift from God. We experience this so profoundly at the birth of a child – or even the elation of falling in love – as we marvel at how amazing this other person is. It is good to be reminded and to wonder at the glory of man – and not just of some vague, global “man”, but of the  actual people I meet each and every day: my mom and dad, my siblings, my neighbors, my coworkers (even the ones that get on my nerves), my pastor, my friends….. Each one of them is a gift, created and given by God to the world (and to me!) to serve Him, fulfill His purpose for their life, witness to His love and give Him glory. And each one of them is unique and unrepeatable. That could be the subject of a year’s reflection!

But that’s not all……
St. Augustine says, “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

If everyone around me is a marvelous gift of God, am I not also a gift? Yes!

In fact, as Pope Paul VI puts it, “Man is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, [and he] cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Guadium et spes, 24). Not only am I gift from God, but as a creature with free will, I can and must choose to make of myself a gift to others! I can be a gift to others when I serve them freely, when I choose to put aside my own wants for the good of another, when I am fully present to others and focus sincerely and attentively on who they are and what they need and desire. Among other examples, I can give myself as a gift to my (future) spouse by remaining chaste in mind and body, before and within marriage. Most importantly, I can choose to give the gift of my life back to the One who gave it to me, by committing to live a holy and virtuous life.

I can choose to give myself freely and totally to the One who gives Himself freely and totally to me. This is the even greater mystery - that the Almighty God would give Himself as a gift to His creatures. Not only in the Incarnation, not only throughout His entire life, not only on the Cross (as if this weren't enough!), but every day, in every Mass, Jesus Christ gives Himself - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - to me, in the Holy Eucharist. In a certain sense, as the priest opens the tabernacle at each Mass, Jesus leaps out of a box and proclaims, "I am the greatest GIFT you could ever ask for, and I am totally yours!"