Being the Gift
Sister Elise Saggau, OSF
God wants to come close and does not want us to be afraid. Therefore, God comes among us as one of us—as a baby. Who can be afraid of a baby—one that is completely dependent on others: parents, nurses, caregivers? God wants to become so powerless among us as to be unable to eat or drink, walk or talk, play or work without many people’s help. God becomes dependent on us in order to grow up and live among us and so demonstrate for us what God is really like. God becomes a weak human being to break through the walls of destructive power. And that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus is God’s Word speaking to us as one of us, inviting us to participate in God’s own mission to the world.
We can perceive this in many ways and in many places. We can see it when a child is born, fruit of the love of two people who came together without defenses and embraced each other’s weaknesses. We can see it every time people ask forgiveness and are reconciled. We can see it in the generosity of those who dedicate their lives and means to worthy human causes. Christmas is the victory of humility over arrogance, of simplicity over complexity, of silence over clamor, of God over self.
We Christians live in the light of the Gospel, a word that means “good news.” It is an announcement of joy for all people. The Church is not a haven for the sad, frightened, and angry. Its language is a language of hope. It reaches out to those who are down-and-out and invites them into a situation of new possibilities. But the joy of the Gospel is not just any kind of joy. It consists in knowing one is welcomed and loved by God unconditionally. It is extremely simple and can be experienced by anyone. It untiringly proclaims that God has come, that God is here with us now, and that God will continue to come! It appeals to those who are fearful, to those who are weak, to those who feel hopeless. It calls to all of us who live in the shadow of death. It changes us and gives us courage. It makes the desert of our lives bloom.
The season of Advent and Christmas has a remarkable quality of joy. It touches not only Christians but all who live in our societies. It is a time of joyful waiting and of joyful giving and receiving. It is a time to remember that without Jesus there can be no Christmas. The whole society may be celebrating a holiday, but unless Jesus is at the center of it, it is not really Christmas. And if Jesus is at the center, then all the trimmings, all the lights, all the sounds, all the various local traditions, including the characteristic foods—all contribute to creating an atmosphere of celebrating the life we have received, the salvation we have experienced. If we remove Jesus from this picture, everything becomes a bit illusory. It may still be “the holidays,” but what exactly it celebrates will seem rather vague.
The Advent-Christmas season is an invitation. It bids us seek out and find true light and true joy. It reveals to us the God who, becoming human like us, reveals what God is really like and what we are really like. This is why we exchange gifts. The fundamental gift is God-come-among-us-as-one-of-us. And when we recognize God-with-us-as-gift, we seek, in our turn, not only to give gifts to one another but to be gifts to one another. And so, gifts symbolize what Jesus teaches us. Sent by the Father, he is a gift to us and we, in turn, are gifts to one another.
G.K. Chesterton once observed: “Everything looks better when it looks like a gift.” Advent calls us to enter more deeply into our spirits and prepare for the greatest gift that has ever been given. During Advent we nurture the emptiness that God is just waiting to fill.
Source: http://www.allsaintspress.com/ASP/18-351.pdf. Jesus the Coming One: Through Advent with Pope Francis and Henri J. M. Nouwen, ed. Steve Mueller.
