Advent Thoughts: A Short Reflection on Gratitude

Every year, when Advent rolls around, we promise ourselves that we will spend less time stressing about all the things we have to do, and spend more, much more time in prayer. I’m always amazed at the number of seasonal devotional books available to us. Old, new or classic, there is always a new way to look at this season of longing.

One idea I’ve been pondering is the idea that we are to be gift recipients as well as gift givers. This goes against the grain for me, because I was always taught “it is better to give than to receive” and “charity is what we give, not what we get”. While in both cases, the point is not to be selfish, to think of what we can do for others, and not just what they can do for us, if we become too legalistic in our interpretation of these maxims, we only deprive ourselves of joy. If someone gives you an extravagant gift you cannot afford, shouldn’t you just accept it with gratitude and enjoy it? Should you let guilt over the size of the gift, and your inability to reciprocate in like measure, keep you from even accepting the gift in the first place? Sadly, many of us do get trapped in this way of thinking. It not only cuts us off from what others would give us out of love, it also cuts us off from what the Lord would give us.

And there is so much that the Lord wants to give us! Read again the marvelously good things that God will give us through Christ in these readings from the book of Isaiah. We are right to praise and bless God for all He has done for us in the words of today’s responsorial psalm.

In the Gospels, we see Jesus fulfilling these promises as He goes about proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom. According to William Barclay, in his excellent commentary on this Gospel, this passage shows Jesus being moved by five particular sufferings - pain, sorrow, hunger, loneliness, and the plain bewilderment of people looking for someone to show them the way to God. The religious leaders of the time taught many good things, but did not seem to be able to reach people, l.e. where they needed to be touched.

Jesus filled those needs for the crowds who came to him while he was on earth. And He will fill those needs for us today when we go to Him in prayer and in trust. His answer may not take the form we expect, it may not even be visible to us for many years, but He always hears our prayers.

But when He reaches down to give these gifts, will we accept them because of His great love for us, or will we close our hands against them because we think we are unworthy of receiving what we asked for? Will we treat Him who loves us so as we treat the humans in our lives who give us extravagant gifts?

If today you hear His voice, open up your heart, and your hands!