Once
upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to provide food for his
family. A few days before Christmas, he punished his little five-year-old
daughter after learning that she had used up the family's only roll of
expensive gold wrapping paper to decorate one shoebox she had put under the
Christmas tree. The next morning the little girl, filled with excitement,
brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you,
Daddy!" As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier
overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her. But when he opened the
shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you
know, young lady," he said harshly, "when you give someone a gift,
there's supposed to be something inside the package!"
The
little girl looked up at him with tears rolling from her eyes and whispered:
"Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full."
Heartbroken, he fell on his knees and
put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for
his impulsive anger and lack of understanding.
Only a short time later an
accident took the life of the child. It is told that the father kept this
little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was
discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an
imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it
there.
Each
of us has been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and
kisses from God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold than
the belief that God sent His Only Child, Jesus into this world for our
salvation. Let us fill the empty boxes,
the empty hearts and empty lives of people around us with divine love, joy and
peace.
“The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,”
which means "God with us." (Mt
1:23) “God so loved the world, that he
gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)
What
a wonderful gift God has given us - His only Son! This is the ultimate proof of
His love: God coming down to be with us. Back in 2000, in Bethlehem, John Paul
II said “God became a child who was entirely dependent on the care of a father
and mother. This is why Christmas gives us so much joy. We don’t feel alone
anymore; God has come down to be with us. Jesus became one of us and suffered
the worst death for us, that of a criminal on the Cross.”
In
his Christmas Message Pope Francis said, “The message announced to us in the
Gospels is a message of joy. The evangelists described a joyful event to us.
They do not discuss about the unjust world and how God could be born into such
a world...The first Christmas was not a condemnation of social injustice and
poverty; it was an announcement of joy. Everything else is conclusions that we
draw. Some are correct, others are less so and others still are ideologies.
Christmas is joy, religious joy, God’s joy, an inner joy of light and peace.
When you are unable or in a human situation that does not allow you to
comprehend this joy, then one experiences this feast with a worldly joyfulness.
But there is a difference between profound joy and worldly joyfulness.”
“And
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night.” “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” “But the angel said to them, “Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” “Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and
lying in a manger.” “Suddenly a great
company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying.”
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and
on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk 2: 8-14)
Jesus
continues to be with us as he promised.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Mt. 18:20) “I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world.” (Mt 28:20) “Never will I
leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb 13:5) We may leave God, but He will never leave
us. No matter how bleak the situation, no matter how empty we feel, God
will never leave you! He is Emmanuel, God with Us.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Fr. Davis George,
Director, St. Aloysius Institute of Technology, Jabalpur.
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