The whole spiritual life is in some way an exchange of gifts. Of course, every gift we give to the Lord, whether time spent in prayer, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, a donation to one’s parish, fasting or some other kind of penance, is only making a return of time or resources that essentially were given to us by Him in the first place. If any parent reading this received Christmas gifts that your children purchased from an allowance that you gave to them, you can see exactly what I am saying. But we didn’t earn an “allowance” of life and grace and mercy in the first place by washing dishes or any other way; it has all come to us as a gift. When we speak of merit, it is always secondary in the sense of using what was given to us in the first place.
Psalm 116:12-13 asks rhetorically, “What return shall I make to the Lord for all of his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.” This psalm reminds us that the Eucharist is the greatest thanksgiving offering we can make to our Heavenly Father. Since it is the offering of Jesus Christ Himself, it elevates all our feeble attempts to present something worthy of the One who truly “has everything already.” Living a Eucharistic life means joining the Lord Jesus in an ever deeper gift of every part of ourselves to our Father.
On a lighter note, I remember first hearing about the idea of a total return of oneself from my family. Since my birthday was just before Christmas, my Mom said that I was brought home as a Christmas present, at which some of my brothers and sisters promptly chimed in that they tried to return me, but they didn’t have a receipt…
Christ is born. Glorify Him!
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR |
