GOD THE GREAT BRINGER OF GIFTS
TONY HORAN SJ - a Christmas Reflection
St Ignatius encourages us to use our imaginations on Gospel scenes. What scene is easier to imagine than the stable at Bethlehem, which we have seen reconstructed in so many Christmas cribs? So let us enter the stable together. We come like shepherds, 'to see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us' (Luke 2:15). Joseph greets us and takes us to Mary. Mary shows the baby Jesus to us as he lies in the animals' feeding trough. As I look at this baby, so little, so vulnerable, I realise that this is Emmanuel, 'God with us' (Matt.1:23). What a gift, God coming to save us is! God, not content with giving so many gifts, as we saw in the last edition of Jesuits and Friends, now gives Himself. He is not content to be a distant giver. He comes Himself, making himself a visible gift. This loving God, who is such a great giver of gifts, now gives us His greatest gift, Himself. And He doesn't come in some awe-inspiring form, not in thunder and lightning, but He makes Himself as vulnerable and as loveable as this tiny baby. So as I dare to hold this wonderful baby, I marvel at God's generosity and I say,
'Thank you, Jesus'.
In his Contemplation for Obtaining Love, St Ignatius points out that God dwells in all His gifts; as the book of Wisdom puts it, 'How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed?' (11.25). God is present in everything created, because His power keeps it in existence. God is present in each one of us - He wills our continued existence every moment of our lives. Every moment He is loving us by willing our continued existence, however we choose to spend that moment.
His present though, is much more real to us in the Jesus who came to share the trials and joys of our human existence. As I hold this tiny baby I can see God's love in His very presence in our lives. But not content with that, He gives Himself to us in His very presence in our lives. But not content with even that, he gives Himself to us in another way in the Eucharist, when He comes to us as the food that nurtures His own risen life within us.
But He is still not content! He and His Father send us a person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to dwell with us and make us God's Temple. His power enables us to be like Christ in loving and forgiving. He is Ôthe spirit of love and power and self-controlÕ
(2 Tim 1:7).
The baby I hold in my arms is the forerunner of these gifts too. As I return him to St Joseph, I am aware that there is so much to thank him for. He is so generous in His love, so desirous to reveal His love to us, and to help us respond with generous love.
What a great bringer of gifts God is!