As we approach the season of Christmas, many of us find ourselves busy with shopping for family and friends. We may spend hours searching the internet and advertisements, striving to find the perfect gift for the best price. We seem to have a deep sense that it is better to give than to receive.
I remember giving my dad a book for Christmas almost every year since I was on my own. I loved seeing how excited he was, how he would ask me if I had read the work before, my opinion on it, and then he would usually spend Christmas morning working his way through several chapters. Not only did that give me joy at the time, but it continues to give me a sense of joy as I remember him.
How very similar it is to Our Heavenly Father, who delights in His creation and showers gifts and blessings upon us. But what can we give Him? It doesn’t seem possible that we can offer much to Him who is all perfect and infinite. However, we can give honor to Him by receiving and using the gifts and blessings He so generously gives us. In my own personal experience teaching confirmation preparation or preparing couples for the sacrament of marriage, I have noticed a need to refocus our gaze on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are given in the sacrament of confirmation.
We must not only turn our attention to these gifts, but we must also understand how they operate. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, for example, are similar to the gifts we receive at Christmas. At the time of confirmation, the bishop (or his delegate) prays over the confirmandi, calling down the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.
At the moment of confirmation, an indelible mark is placed upon our souls. The gifts will never leave us, even if we fall away from following Our Lord.
However, if they go unused, the gifts collect spiritual dust, if you will. The books I gave my dad never went unused. Had he received those books and left them to collect dust, they would not have served their purpose: being read.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit operate in similar ways. Each of these gifts enable us to live a virtuous life. They build upon the natural virtues, such as the cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice and courage). They help us to become the saints God has intended us to be. Anyone who has tried practicing virtue for a day knows that our fallen human nature needs help. God, as a wise and loving Father, does not abandon us. He gives us His strength through the sacraments. We need only to know what they are and actually use them.
Just as it is not enough to simply look at a nicely wrapped Christmas gift and admire it from afar, we must take those gifts we receive at confirmation, learn more about them, and strive to put them into practice through the grace of God.
The most perfect example of participation in this grace was the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady had the free will to participate in God’s plan at the Annunciation. God did not force His will upon her. She freely offered the “gift” of her “fiat” to God the Father, saying, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Though Our Lady did not experience the draw to sin which we face in concupiscence, God never ceases to give us His grace. As we approach Christmas, let us remember the greatest gift God has given us in Our Lord’s Incarnation and as a result, the sacraments – especially those gifts of the Holy Spirit we have received in confirmation (or are looking forward to receiving in the Easter season).
It is time to make the resolutions to act thankful for the gifts that God has given us. We can engage those gifts by going to confession frequently (our pastor recommends at least once a month), attending Mass every Sunday (more frequently, if possible), and keeping a regular prayer life. (If that seems overwhelming, talk to your priest about coming up with a plan in spiritual direction.) Ask Our Lady to help you grow in those gifts which she so perfectly lived through her fiat!
Amanda Johnson is the director of religious education at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Greensboro, where she and her husband enjoy developing catechesis opportunities at their parish.