When I first turned back to the Lord, a certain priest I had sought help from had done much for me, and so one Christmas I planned to get him a gift. I didn’t want to get money – that’s cheesy, I thought. I’ll get him something meaningful.
So I asked some of his confreres about his tastes, and I got some vague responses. They suggested a gift certificate. C’mon, I thought, I have to get the man a personal gift. I thought, well, if I go to a bookstore, I’ll probably find something.
I went to the store and looked around and around and found nothing. I decided then, OK, OK, I’ll cave in and get the store gift card. Now, I thought, at least he has a lot of options to pick out what he likes. Well, you know what? Once I started to think about that, I thought, why limit him to books? They have mall gift cards. He can pick out anything he wants in the whole mall!
So I went to the little stand in the middle of the mall and I said, “Hello, I’m interested in a mall gift card.” The nice woman said, “Oh sure. It works like a debit card at any store in the mall, like cash. There is a fee, though, if it’s not completely used in a month, and then after another month another fee, and so on.” Whoa, I thought. What’s the advantage over plain old cash? With cash he wouldn’t be limited to just this mall, and he wouldn’t have some rich bank skimming off the top if he didn’t spend it in time.
I ended up giving the priest cash that Christmas – the one thing I did not want to give him.
What went wrong? I’ll tell you what. When I started out, I had no idea what I was looking for. Why? Because I really didn’t know the man. I don’t live with him day in and day out. I’ve not shared his joys and sorrows, have not struggled through life’s journey with him.
What can we give to God in return for what He’s done for us? How do we know His tastes? We don’t live with Him, He’s in heaven.
He’s given us His Son, to live with us, so that we can share the joys and sorrows of God Himself in His Life. Jesus calls us to follow Him in His Life. It’s then that we’ll know God.
“No one knows the Son, but the Father: neither does any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him.” (Mt 11:27)
It’s then that we can give God the gift that delights Him.
ALM 