Be honest, your heart sinks a little at the approach of Christmas. The First Sunday of Advent draws near, and what looms large before us are long to-do lists, multiple trips to crowded shopping centers, and the worry about how we are going to pay for it all.
American consumerism is out of control, and it’s taking a toll on Christmas.
There may be a part of us that wishes that the gift-giving part of Christmas would just go away, so we could envelop ourselves in a shroud of silence and focus all our energies on the true meaning of Christmas—the impenetrable and profound mystery of the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
While there is merit in wishing we could do away with all the hoopla surrounding Christmas, we must remember that there is a spiritual, and might I add, potentially evangelical side of gift giving that we shouldn’t overlook.
Therese Mueller, a mid-century author on Catholic culture in the home, had this sage advice on how to approach gift-giving: “As far as Christmas gifts are concerned, let us emphasize their true meaning, now so generally forgotten: overpowered by God’s generosity in giving his only-begotten Son as the Redeemer of mankind, Christians feel urged to imitate in a limited manner God’s great love and liberality by spreading happiness among relatives and friends through gifts.”
But, she added, “only if our gifts—small though they be—are borne along on a wave of true charity will they be worthy to lie beside the crib, which represents the real gift, the gift of all gifts, without which we should still be sitting in darkness and in the slavery of Sin.”
In a controversial footnote, she also suggests to parents that they stop telling “white lies” to their children about Santa Claus, and begin to tell them that it is “the Christ Child who presents our family with the abundance of grace and happiness and peace.” But, I digress.
There are lot of good ways Catholics can take back the practice of gift-giving, which is currently rooted in a frenzied consumerism, and turn it into a real effort to give of ourselves in a way that emulates Our Father in heaven.
First, before we can recapture a more spiritual motivation for gift giving, we have to let it sink into our bones that everything we have comes first from Our Heavenly Father. Being grateful for what we have received, and aware that all we have has been given to us freely by our God, whom we can never repay, puts our little acts of gift-giving into perspective.
Second, don’t forget the poor. If we only give to those who can return the favor, or even better, give us even bigger gifts than we gave, then we haven’t learned well the lessons Jesus tried to teach us during his short sojourn with us here on earth.
When making out your Christmas list, put the poor and needy at the top. Give them first billing, and you will have put a new focus on your gift-giving.
Third, give your time and energy. Make Christmas a time to reach out to those you haven’t had the opportunity to see in a long time. Create opportunities to get together with friends and family and just spend time with others.
Fourth, evangelize. There are so many opportunities to remind friends and family of God’s love during Christmas! For example, give Christmas greetings. “Have a Snoopy Christmas” is a fun sentiment, but are you missing an opportunity to evangelize by not reminding people of the true meaning of Christmas?
Fifth, give gifts. Gifts are genuine gestures of love, esteem and friendship. And be generous. Just make sure your gifts, and the motivations behind them, are “worthy to lie beside the crib” of the King of Kings.
