What gift will you bring Jesus this Christmas?
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today officially begins our liturgical preparations for Christmas with the Announcement to Zechariah. Christmas is a time of giving and I’m sure that you will agree with me that we truly find great joy in giving rather than receiving. Therefore, as we liturgically and scripturally journey towards the shining star of Bethlehem, let us consider this Christmas what gift we will be taking to the child Jesus at the end of this journey. We know gifts to be giving a newly born baby don’t you think? However, the Magi had the wisdom to know that there was much more to this baby. They gave Him gold because they recognized it was a proper gift for a king. They gave him frankincense because that is what a high priest used when he went into the temple to represent the people before God. They gave Him myrrh because they recognized that this King would die for the world. But what can we present him with 2015 years later? This is quite a challenging question don’t you think? I mean what gift do you give God? Will it be material? Will it be valuable? Will it be sentimental? Will it be spiritual? Will it be emotional? Will it be anything? from Scripture that the three Magi presented Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh. These are rather strange.
I would like you to reflect on this as you start your preparations for Christmas. We often get caught up with the gifts that we love giving and receiving, with the banquets that we love preparing and with the holidays that we love taking; that we often forget about the one and only birthday boy, our Lord Jesus Christ. So, before you get bogged down with everything else this year, take a moment to think about your gift to Him and work on it in the next few weeks so that when you complete your journey and arrive at the manger of our Lord, you too will be full of the joy of giving. Imagine how much more this will meaning will carry when the receiver is Jesus.
Over the next few weeks I will be reflecting on this gift of giving and what kind of gift we can present Jesus with in the Shepherd’s Corner. I pray that together as one parish family we can find the right gift which befits the Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.
On a parish note, this week our Stewardship Committee undertook a three day workshop to help them in effective governance. Like all our committees, the Stewardship Committee sacrifice much of their time and resources in helping us manage the financial aspects of our parish. On behalf of all the priests and parishioners we thank you for all that you do.
Fr Tony Sarkis
