Divine Gift: Imbalanced and Uneven

HOMILY: The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

25 December 2022

John 1:1-18

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

When do you  usually open your Christmas gifts — the 24th or the 25th of December?  Do you remember the most expensive gift you have ever received? What did you give in return to the one who gave you that gift? Our celebrations of Christmas is now often identified with the tradition of gift-giving. That is why we have the “holiday rush” when department stores and shops are unusually busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas as everyone  scrambles to stretch their budget for all the gifts they need to buy. Even among neighbours, there is the traditional exchange of food items. Someone is always ringing our doorbell to deliver a gift and when we have nothing to give in return, we make a hasty purchase of something to give in return. Is it not? We feel it is a must to give something back in return! We are completely embarrassed if someone gives us a gift and we don’t have something for them.   

Our consumerist society tells us everything is quantifiable.  We cannot help but look at the value of the gifts we receive.  We tend to favour the more expensive and fancy gifts. The price is the standard. We don’t want to be labeled as “kuripot” or a cheapskate.  We don’t want our gift to be criticised so we make an effort to spend, even if it is beyond our means. How many times have we maxed out our credit cards at Christmastime? We convince ourselves that we can figure out later how to pay off our debts. Why do we make such a fuss? Perhaps it is a reflection of our own tendency to be judgy.  If we are the first to hand over a pricey gift don’t we feel a tinge of regret when what we receive in return is not equal in value to what we have given? 

Brothers and sisters, that is most definitely NOT what Christmas is about. We give because we are moved by love and appreciation for others. We give in thanksgiving and to share the many blessings we have received.  We give, expecting nothing in return.  We give in imitation of the generosity of our God although we can never match Him in His generosity. 

The feast we celebrate today presents to us a gift-giving that is imbalanced and uneven. It is extremely stacked in our favour. We are the ones who benefit the most because God the Father gave His Son Jesus to save humanity. This is the nature of the divine gift in Jesus Christ. We gain untold merits by the person of Jesus Christ, God-made-man.  We, the recipients, can never return the full value of this divine gift. As the little drummer boy sings: “I have no gift to bring… that’s fit to give a king.”  Even if we are very rich or very talented, nothing we can do or offer can surpass the gift of God.

In the birth of Jesus, we celebrate the love of God who sent no less than His own Son to save us, no matter how many times humanity has failed Him.  Listen closely to the words of the Third Preface for the Mass of the Nativity of our Lord — “Through Him the holy exchange that restores our life has shone forth today in splendour: when our frailty is assumed by your Word.  Not only does human mortality receive unending honour but by this wondrous union we, too, are made eternal.” God becoming man, revolutionises our humanity. We are no longer merely human because as children of God we have been endowed with the divine potential. If we desire and work hard, one day we can be holy like Him. “To those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:12) St. Irenaeus of Lyons expressed this process of divinization or deification as “God becoming what we are so that we might become what He is.” Each Christmas, we recall this divine condescension and marvel in worship at this unfathomable mystery of God’s love. 

Come to think of it, God did not need to save us. Who are we? We are naturally fragile, sinful and stubborn. We do not deserve the gift of His Son. We can neither make ourselves worthy of Him. What is consoling is that God knows that and He still chooses to save us because of His great love for us. He sent His own Son to suffer the indignities and the lowliness of humanity that we may identify with Him and understand better the divine plan of God for His chosen people.  He did it, not only for Mary, St. Joseph, the apostles or the people who lived in those days. He did it for me and for you!

As flawed individuals, how can we ever reciprocate God’s boundless love for us? We can not hope to match God’s gift to us. Yet we, lowly as we are, can still offer a gift to Him this Christmas by making a conscious effort “to live temperately, justly and devoutly” as God desires of us.  For the Lord, it is not the value of the gift, but the thought and the effort that counts. We are not expected to be perfect but He places a premium on our struggle and our perseverance. Never lose heart because God values and cherishes each one of ​​us. 

Our best gifts are not the ones where we even up the score.  The greatest gifts can never be reciprocated and quantified. We are a people that has been greatly blessed by the Incarnation of our Lord.  As Christians, we await further a still greater blessing when Christ returns to us at the end of time! Meanwhile, let us continue to value the givers more than the gift and to cherish the friends and family we have around us. Be grateful for your blessings and be a blessing to others. A Blessed Christmas to everyone!