The First Gift of Christmas

The First Gift of Christmas

            In the famous Christmas movie, The Polar Express, the boy receives a bell from Santa Claus which is called “the first gift of Christmas.”  Then he is told that only those who believe in Santa Claus can hear the ringing of this bell.

            What longing in the human heart was the author of The Polar Express trying to convey?  It is the desire to have something beautiful to believe in-- beyond what we see around us.

"O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light,
sun of justice: come, shine on those who dwell
 in darkness and the shadow of death."

            Around us there is so much desolation.  There are wars between nations and the war against the preborn.  Consider, for example that since 1973 the equivalent of 17.5% of our national United States population has died in the war against the preborn.  Additionally many of the elderly or disabled have fallen victim to euthanasia.  There is violence in our schools and communities.  Poverty, substance abuse, pornography, suicide, bankruptcy, and homelessness have become rampant.  Our freedom of speech and freedom of worship are being severely eroded.  Multitudes have embraced the lie that our sexuality—the gift of being created male or female in the image and likeness of God has no meaning.  This has reached the point where people are being persecuted and ostracized for stating the obvious fact that sodomy and other distortions of sexual expression are intrinsically disordered and morally destructive. Even the meaning of terms like equality and freedom has changed.  Instead of referring to the individual dignity of each person, equality is now falsely used to justify aberrant behavior and freedom is used to justify licentiousness.

            Yet despite all this desolation the longing for the beautiful remains in each of our hearts.  We desire that Someone Beautiful would come to heal our grief and restore what we have shattered.  Many centuries before Christ’s birth it was prophesied that when He came He would bring good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and set prisoners free (cf. Isaiah 61:1)  In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus applied these words of Isaiah to Himself: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).  And now He is here, the Father’s Eternal Gift, the Radiant Dawn from on High, the true and everlasting First Gift of Christmas, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

            He is coming for you—His beloved one.  No matter what you have done or failed to do—you are still His beloved one.  He sees your true identity, the real you!  You were created as a unique, irreplaceable male or female immortal person in His own image and likeness.  The greatest gift you could give Him this Christmas is to open your heart to His overflowing Love for you.

            Today will you open your heart to Jesus Christ, the True First Gift of Christmas, or will you allow the hole in your heart to be forever unfilled?

 

Wishing you and your loved ones

The Everlasting First Gift of Christmas,

Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML