Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; The Holy Martyrs Proclus and Hilary (98-117); Venerable Father Michael of Maleon (961)
Romans 12:6-14; Matthew 9:1-8
Read Romans 12:6-14
Gifts are for giving. I know some people reading this might think that this goes without saying, but I think it bears repeating in our world of consumerism and utilitarianism. When the often unspoken questions we are asking ourselves as we evaluate the world are: “what’s in it for me?” and “what’s it good for?” a gift is often overlooked or misunderstood.
For me, this is always best illustrated by young children on Christmas morning opening presents. Much care has been taken by their parents or relatives to choose gifts that are appropriate, fun etc. The children are aglow with anticipation. But when the time comes and they are handed the present, they have more fun tearing the wrapping paper apart and playing in the box the “perfect toy” came in than they are in the toy itself! They are filled with joy, not because they got a toy, but because they were given a gift!
Well, what’s the difference? It’s what St. Paul tells us today: genuine love. Children trust love much more readily than their jaded superiors. Love isn’t self seeking or manipulative. If a gift really is a gift we are not trying to buy or manipulate people through them. They are given out of love, not because they are deserved or expected or come with “strings attached.”
This is both the way that God gives us gifts and expects us to act in giving gifts. Because God doesn’t need anything from us, His love is given as a pure disinterested gift. We certainly didn’t deserve it, can’t earn it or buy it, but God loves us. Now St. Paul is urging us to give as God has given to us: genuinely, without hidden agendas, political statements, conditions attached. Simply out of love.
Let us take the Apostle’s counsel today brothers and sisters and give as the Perfect Giver has taught us!