The Christmas gift - A Christmas reflection 2023
EDante, San Francisco, Agusan Sur, Philippines 24 December 2023 Christmas in the Philippines is a joyful time marked by lively songs, decorated trees, and well lighted homes. Sadly, it coincides with the typhoon season, causing major disruptions. For this reason, our family prefers July-August for a visit. This year, however, Moonyeen and I embraced the Christmas period in Bohol to visit our future home and then to our respective hometowns to spend time with our loved ones. True enough, a typhoon disrupted our plan. The Bohol trip was cancelled. Moonyeen went straight to Leyte, and I flew to Mindanao. In Mindanao, the family hosted a Christmas party with relatives, friends and farm staff at our farmhouse. Blessed with sunny weather, the atmosphere was filled with joy and giving. The event featured a fun-filled gift exchange game. As we all stood in a circle, each person held his or her gift. My gift attracted considerable attention, as it was elegantly wrapped in a pink silk bag often seen as holding precious jewels. So, everyone wanted to get my gift. The first game was called, asking us to hand the gift we were holding to the next person. Then, in the successive games, each one was asked to pick a gift according to certain criteria until everyone had a chance to pick a gift. It was filled with excitement and laughter as everyone aimed for the pink silk bag. As customary, we also gave presents in cash, chocolates and candies to the children and the farm staff. A touching moment occurred when I received a gift from a staff's teenage daughter. Unwrapping the gift, I found a framed pencil drawing of my portrait. The well-crafted drawing was a labour of love and spoke volumes about the young artist's sincerity. I learned that she spent her little money to buy the frame. This unexpected present touched my heart profoundly. It humbled me to realize that the gift's true value surpassed any material gifts I had shared. In that simple yet powerful pencil drawing, I recognized the deep gratitude and appreciation she held. It was a reminder that the most meaningful gifts often come from the heart, transcending the material value. A Filipino priest expressed this point nicely in his sermon: "After all, the best gifts are not wrapped in paper. The best gifts are wrapped in love, kindness, truth and gentleness." Christmas is indeed a time to give. The tradition of gift-giving mirrors God's greatest act of giving, beautifully expressed in the Gospel of John (3:16): “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When God, the Father, sent His Son to the world, He did not separate himself from the Son. The mystery of the Holy Trinity reveals that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable. This means that the Father and the Holy Spirit were present in the Son. Jesus expressed this truth when he said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) and also when he told his apostle Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9). Therefore, when God gave his one and only Son, in truth, He gave himself entirely to us. He gifted us with himself. God himself is the Christmas gift. Another remarkable act of giving is shown in the story of the Magi (or Wise Men) found in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel opens with these words, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'" Subsequently, the chapter describes the Magi's encounter with the infant Jesus: "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." These symbolic gifts carry deep meanings: the gold symbolizes the baby's royal identity, the frankincense signifies his divinity, and the myrrh alludes to the child's humanity and the eventual reality of facing death. While these gifts may be material in nature, they symbolize the profound faith, wisdom and love that motivated the Magi in choosing their gifts. Finally, the legendary gift-giving act of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Catholic bishop in Turkey, inspired the famous figure of today’s Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas’ parents were wealthy and instilled a spirit of generosity in their son. On one occasion, he exchanged his horse for a slave in an auction so he could free him. In another story, he gave gifts to the peasants secretly by night out of humility. By the 1400s, St. Nicholas was a popular religious figure, with thousands of early chapels built in his honour. His gift-giving acts slowly became an integral part of the Christmas celebration. The name Santa Claus came around the 1500s. It comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means Saint Nicholas. May this Christmas motivate us to imitate the examples of generosity shown in the story of the teenage girl at the farm, God’s giving himself to us, the Magi’s symbolic gifts to Baby Jesus and Saint Nicholas’ legendary simple acts of mercy. It is said that “Nobody is so poor that he has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich that he has nothing to receive”. Wishing you a Christmas filled with love and joy! |
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