Giving
and Receiving
Is
Christmas a time of giving or of receiving? The answer of course is
that it is both and this is true on many levels. When we give, someone
else must be receiving; when we receive someone else must be giving.
This
is true firstly in the family. Parents give gifts to children and
to one another. Children give gifts to parents and to one another.
There is also Christmas giving between relatives, neighborhoods and
friends, especially at places of work. All of these givings are symbols
of a deeper reality. They are symbols of caring and of love. If they
are not such a symbol, they are mere formalities and can even hurt.
I heard of a wife who got a diamond ring from her husband at Christmas.
She threw it at him in fury because she had just found out that he
had another woman in his life. The symbol was an effort to cover up
a lie rather than to communicate a truth.
Christmas
is the season when we celebrate God's great self-giving to us. We
recall the time when the King of Kings became a human being. We are
told in the stories that He was born as Jesus of Nazareth, laid in
a manger, visited by shepherds and by wise men from the east. The
Christmas stories tell us that God so loved the world that he gave
us his only-begotten son who emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant. What are we to do in the face of this great giving on the
part of God?
We
are to give him the gift of ourselves. But the only way that we can
give him the gift of ourselves is by accepting the gift of ourselves
which he gave to us. The greatest glory that we can give to God is
to accept the self he gave us. In this way we thank and glorify him.
By receiving the great gift that he has given us we give him the very
best gift possible. When God gives us himself he gives us ourselves,
selves that are dwelling places of His spirit.
Unfortunately,
we are not trained to accept ourselves. From infancy we have been
told that we were bad (maldito), or maybe (gago) stupid, or ugly (pangit).
We have been taught that we are no good unless we are getting good
grades in school and behaving according to the norms set by our parents.
When we hear these things often enough we tend to believe them. When
we believe that we are bad we cannot love and honor ourselves. If
we cannot love and honor ourselves we cannot love and honor others
or God.
So,
give yourself a great gift for Christmas. Just accept the great gift
of yourself that God has given you. You may indeed have failed, you
may indeed have sinned but deep down you are a special creation of
God. Feel good about this and let nobody take it away from you. The
extraordinary thing about feeling good about yourself is that as soon
as you feel it, you will also begin to feel good about other people.
You will accept them as gifted creations of God even if at times they,
too, sin or have annoying characteristics.
According
to St. Ireneus, the glory of God is humans fully alive. When you accept
the gift of self that God gave you, you are accepting the greatest
gift of God. You are accepting the presence of Christ in you, you
are celebrating Christmas.
According
to John Main the purpose of meditation is to enable us to accept the
gift of our own selves. He advises us to meditate for twenty to thirty
minutes twice every day - even on Christmas Day!
Taken
from Sundays
into Silence - A Pathway to Life. Copyright © 1998 by Claretian
Publications
