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A couple of years ago,
a good friend of mine gave me a book for Christmas. He told
me that it was one of the best books that he had ever read
and he really thought that I would like it. He said that he
thought that the book had changed his life. I thanked him
for his considerate gift. I was very impressed that my
friend was so taken by the book. And then I put the book on
a small pile of things that needed to be put away after
Christmas. I was already in the middle of at least four
books, and even the time after Christmas is very busy. I
told myself that I would get around to reading his gift book
later on. Maybe I would read it during Lent. I always seem
to have more time to read during Lent. And so a couple of
weeks after Christmas, the new book went on my bookshelf
with probably two or three others that I had received for
Christmas that year. Priests like books. Books are a good
gift for priests and for everybody else. But then Lent kind
of came and went. I did some reading, but I never pulled
the book that I had gotten for Christmas off the shelf. I
told myself that I would read the book in the summer, maybe
when I was on vacation. But then the next thing I knew it
was September, and the book was still there on the shelf of
my bookcase. Christmas came and went. I got a couple of
more books for the following Christmas. Lent came and went
again. Summer passed by again. And then another Christmas
happens. I got a couple of more books that year. My
bookshelf is well-stocked. And then that February, more
than two years after my friend had given me the book, we had
a really heavy snow. School was cancelled. My appointments
that day all cancelled. Pretty much everything around here
was cancelled. It was a snow day. Even priests love snow
days! It was a quiet day to stay inside and to stay warm
and safe. And then it dawned on me, what a great day to
read a book. I went over to my bookshelf, and the first
book I saw was the one that my friend had given for me
Christmas, more than two years before. I had forgotten all
about it. But I did remember him saying how it was one of
the best books that he had ever read. And I thought, man, I
should have read this before now. So I sat down in a
comfortable chair and started reading my Christmas present,
that I had forgotten all about. And you know what? It was
a great book. It had been a long time since I had enjoyed
reading any book as much as I enjoyed reading that one. I
couldn’t put it down. It made me think about a lot of
things.
Each Christmas all of us
get some gifts. And when we get a gift, we’ve got to decide
what to do with it. We can put in on, or hang it in the
closet. We can take it back to the store or we can give it to
someone else. We can put in on our bookshelf or we can read it,
or use, or hang it up right away. The choice of what to do with
a gift comes right along with receiving the gift. The giver
can’t make you wear it, or read it, or use it, or even like it.
When you’re given a gift, you must decide what you’re going to
do with it. This is true of all gifts.
My brothers and sisters,
two-thousand years ago, our God gave us an incredible Gift by
coming down into our world as the Son. Two-thousand years ago,
our world changed forever. Things would never be the same. It
was the Ultimate Gift. But just like every other gift that we
have ever received, even with Jesus, you’ve got to decide what
you’re going to do with Him. And even NOT making a decision, is
itself making a decision. You can put Jesus on a shelf, you can
hang Him in the back of your closet, you can put Him in a box in
the basement or in the attic. You can pretend that God wasn’t
born in Bethlehem two-thousand years ago. Or… Or you can
take this incredible Gift that God has given to all of us, and
you can let it change your life forever. It’s really as simple
as that. The Gift of Jesus has helped so many. It has saved
them. It has made many into Saints. But what you do with your
Gift is up to you. Someday God, the Ultimate Giver, is going to
ask all of us what we did with the Gift that He gave us. We
need to be ready for that question. It could be a lot worse
than your aunt asking you why don’t ever wear the sweater that
she got you last Christmas.
Let Jesus live and
breathe and work in YOU! Christmas isn’t about one day. It’s
about a way of life. We can’t come here one day a year and
think that is Christianity. It’s not. That’s not the nature of
this Gift. Take the Gift that God give you today and use it,
put it on, take advantage of it, give it a chance. You’ll be
very glad that you did.
From all of us here at
St. Maria Goretti, Merry Christmas! May we remember Who’s
Birthday it is!
May God bless us this
Christmas…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN!!! |
