This is off-topic, but I ask you to read, anyway.
A terrible fire this week, destroyed a 64 unit apartment building, in my community.
190 people were left homeless. Thankfully, though, none were injured.
These poor folks lost everything, just before Christmas.
An anonymous donor decided to be Santa Claus, and made the gift of one million dollars, to be divided among those who lost their apartments and possessions.
What a wonderful gift!
Heart-warming story. While your on the topic on the Spirit of Giving at Christmas I thought I’d share a reflection on the True Spirit of Giving at Christmas.
THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS GIVING
What is the real meaning of our giving at Christmas ?
Christmas presents are not given universally by every nation, religion and culture in the
world. Why is it, then, that, unlike other people, we Christians for the last 2000 sum odd
years have made Christmas the feast of giving ? Many different answers could be given to this
question by those who specialize in social history or the philosophy of religion. Many such
though provoking answers would no doubt be helpful and edifying. But I would like to ignore
scholarship for the moment and suggest that we just question our own hearts. We may be poor or
we may be well off. But I think most of us will have spent time before Christmas looking for
and perhaps buying something to give to those we love. We may have spent hours or days thinking
about an unusual gift for someone. Or we may have wanted to surprise the person who receives
our present. It may have cost us more money than we could really afford. And one of the
happiest experiences in the world is when we look forward with eager expectation of a new born
child into the world as a Christmas present.
Yet maybe for some of us at Christmas is the surprise that we feel, or pretend, with rather a
painful smile, to feel–when the pretty packages lying under the Christmas tree are unwrapped.
I believe what is revealed in all this is a deep human longing. In each and every one of us,
there is hidden, somewhere in the depths of our heartfelt being, a poet, a writer, or an artist
who is prevented from expressing herself or himself by the everyday task of life. Sometimes our
heart is like a captive albatross on the stormy deck of the ship of life.
You see an albatross is a awkward, weird, and ridiculous bird like creature especially when not
in the sky, because it is made for flight and it’s huge 18ft wing span prevents it from walking
when it is on the ground. We men and women have many very ordinary task and duties to do in
the hustle and bustle of our lives. On grey days we very often think of them as “wretched
hateful jobs”. But in reality our human experiences ought really to be more loving and touch
our hearts more closely. But often for many of us it only leaves us time and money for those
ordinary tasks and duties and for what is strictly necessary in our day to day living. Goodness
withers away in us and so does love, which can only flourish in unique situation. In essence
when everything is in abundance- in a word- when there is a special occasion “a feast”.
What happens in the weeks before Christmas ?
They are weeks of thinking, planning, and preparation.
A little girl may begin to knit or sew something for her parents.
A young man engaged to be married tries to find out, without asking, what kind of gift will really please the young
sweetheart girl he loves. And dear Mom may be using all her ingenuity to conjure up happiness
from nothing. And a father may become a boy again and try to put an old model railway in
running order or even make some toys from wood himself. And children, those little ones who are
still wise and not yet disappointed by life’s experiences, feel safe and happy in the care of
their parents.
Every parent is, after all, the representative of the infinitely rich Christ Child. This is where we find the more profound meaning of the long established tradition of giving presents at
Christmas; the practice of wanting to give much more than we are able to give or can afford to
give. When we go beyond our resources and ability in this way, we become aware that there is
something that transcends our everyday tasks and duties in life. Indeed something that gives us
an insight into the nature of the kingdom of God, in which all of us are rich, generous in
giving and indeed “almost” as almighty as God himself.
Every gift under the tree is like a sacramental symbol of our love to the one who receives. Every present is a
profound spiritual good…a making visible of an invisible good that goes further than any of
our calculations, has no boundaries and recognizes no frontiers. And however poor we may be, so
poor that we have, in weeks before Christmas, to go past the shop windows and their glorious
displays of gifts perhaps with troubled hurt and envious heart,
We can still say on Christmas Day to those we love:
I give you my heart. My heart, my loving heart, is like a carefully locked Christmas present.
It contains treasures that have still not been discovered.
My love is new and full of surprises. It looks forward to receiving a gift in return.
And it is renewed and made young again when it hears the only possible answer from the one who
receives.
I love you too.
Have a Blessed Christmas
