The Gift of God
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 11
The Lord took David from being a shepherd, and made him a commander of armies. The Lord won the battles. The Lord gave David rest. The Lord came to Nathan. The Lord sent Nathan to David. The Lord reveals that he will establish a house for David. The Lord says he will raise up an heir.
Gabriel did not decide to come. Gabriel was not summoned. Gabriel was sent.
The woman was not full of grace through her own efforts, but preserved by the grace of God from all sin from the moment of her conception until her assumption into heaven.
The messiah was not conceived in the natural way with a man and a woman’s active participation, but by the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, the messiah is conceived with the consent of the woman, but that consent was given as a response to God’s action.
I am sure you see the pattern. Our God comes and sends, but our God is not summoned. Our God does, but our God is not controlled. In “The Chronicles of Narnia,” they describe Aslan as a good lion, but not a tame lion. Likewise, our God is good, but our God is not a tame God.
We are busy and active in life. We take control. We strive for things. We work. We go. We do.
We do the same in our spiritual life. We say prayers. We seek God. We strive for holiness. We go to mass. We form our conscience. We go to confession. We repent. We do penance. We give alms. We do corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Those are good things.
But the greatest gifts of God do not come from our work, our asking, or our decision. We receive them as gifts.
The angel’s message.
The virgin’s holiness.
The messiah’s conception and birth.
Emmanuel – God with us.
All gifts.
I think that sometimes we forget this. I think we forget what it means to receive a gift.
We tell Santa and our grandparents what we want, and the gifts appear. We build wishlists, and buy our own gift. We return things that we don’t like, and buy something different. Somehow, this changes our understanding of gift.
We read spiritual books and apply the prayers and practices in an effort to grow in holiness. We tell God what we want, and when. We seek God, and become frustrated when God fails to do or say or be what and where and when we want.
Those things are all good. We should read spiritual books. We should pray and try to grow in holiness. We should be honest with God about what we want, and even about the anger and frustration we feel.
But we must remember that the gifts of God are, first of all, gifts.
We desire God’s work in us. We listen for God’s voice. We cooperate with God’s work. We give our fiat, even if imperfectly, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s perfect fiat. But it is God who does the work. It is God who sets the time.
This is true in our own lives, and it is true in the lives of those we love.
We pray, like Saint Monica, for those we love. We sacrifice for them. We desire God’s presence and God’s blessing for them. We grow impatient as they suffer and struggle. We fear for their bodily and spiritual health.
Advent is drawing to an end, and we are at the very threshold of the Christmas season. For many, it is difficult to enter the season with joy. It’s been a challenging year, and we don’t know what to expect next.
As we face the coming Christmas season, we are challenged.
We are challenged to set aside expectations.
We are challenged to wait more patiently.
We are challenged to trust more completely.
We are challenged to relinquish control.
We are challenged to allow God to surprise us.
We are challenged to rest.
Ironically, our culture and our times make it more difficult to “not do” than to “do.” But our God is good. The gifts we receive from our God are better than any we could choose for ourselves, if we will allow ourselves to trust in God.
May God give each and all of us the gifts of rest, of peace, and of trust in this coming Christmas season.
