Learning to Receive

As you know, we are now just a short time from the start of Christmas. If you are anything like me, there’s still a few precious hours to think through what gifts you still need to find a way to shop for, buy, wrap, and deliver before the hour for unwrapping arrives. I like to give presents, but sometimes I don’t think I’m very good at it. Perhaps it is because I wait until the last minute! People say that, with gifts, “It’s the thought that counts!”, and I for one hope they are right.

In the first reading today, King David finds himself in a giving mood. Having conquered his enemies and established his throne in Jerusalem, he is moved by gratitude to do something for God. Since the time of Moses, the Jewish people had understood God’s presence to dwell with them through the Ark of the Covenant, housed within a special tent that was moveable. David desires to build for the Lord a fitting house, a temple, something that would stand permanently as a visible reminder of God’s place at the center of his kingdom.

As we hear, God has other plans. He appreciates David’s intention – “It’s the thought that counts!” – but God is more interested in giving gifts than in receiving them. While David wants to build him a house of wood and stone, God desires to give him a lasting gift, not a literal house, but a lineage and a kingship that will rule for all times. There are few things as important to a king as the stability of his succession, and God promises to secure David’s for all time.

This reading demonstrates for us an important lesson about our relationship with God. The Lord desires an intimate relationship with us, a true friendship, like he had with David. But we should not confuse our places; we are not equals – God remains God. Sometimes, we might think, “Well, if I do this good thing, then he will bless me” or “I will suffer this hardship, and then God will owe me.” But God is not interested in bargaining or cutting deals; all of his action toward us is one of blessing and benevolence. We don’t have to curry his favor, or earn his loyalty; God already desires to give us every good gift and blessing.

The Annunciation (c. 1452), attributed to Petrus Christus

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we will always perfectly understand his will. In the Gospel for this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to a Son, and that he will receive the throne of his ancestor David and his kingdom will have no end. Mary doesn’t understand the full meaning of these words; if she understands them even partially, she is even more unsure how she, as a virgin, could be the one chosen by God to bring forth a Savior. And yet underneath her questions, Mary has a deep and implicit faith in the Lord’s goodness, in his faithfulness, in their intimate relationship as God and human being, and so she responds affirmatively, trustingly, with a “Yes” that makes up in love what it lacks in understanding.

Mary’s “Fiat” is the greatest act of her life, the fundamental reason why we as Catholics accord her such honor and veneration. We understand that without her “Yes”, Christ would not have been born for us, and the promise of God to David would not have been fulfilled. David’s royal line crumbles after a few centuries, due to the sinfulness of his descendants and the people of Israel as a whole. And yet God does not abandon his people, and he does not forget his promise; instead, he fulfills it in a way more wonderful than David or anyone else could ever imagine. David had desired the presence of God to dwell among his people, and as we see in the Annunciation, that has also been God’s desire all along – not in some perishable building of wood or stone, but in a person, in the permanent union of God and man in Christ. As St. Paul remarks to the Romans, this is the “mystery kept secret for long ages,” but now manifested and made known to all nations – that God has fulfilled his promise to David, and fulfilled indeed every desire and yearning of the human heart, in the Incarnation of his Word, the sending of his Son Jesus, through whom God’s love and favor rests upon his people. Through him, we have been made a royal people, not by blood but by baptism. Every believer shares in the kingship of Christ, and through him, the royal lineage of the Church extends through every age and to every place.

Very close now to the start of Christmas, our final Advent preparation should be a reflection upon this reality: that the coming of Christ is a greater gift than any mankind could have asked for or dreamed of. We need not doubt God’s benevolence, his providence, his desire to reach through time and history to change us and our reality – his Son’s presence among us is proof of that. We don’t have to curry favor with the Lord or seek to give him gifts in order to earn his love; he has already given it and gives it anew through the grace of Christ. That is the true blessing of Christmas.

What God does ask is that we be faithful and joyful in receiving what he does desire to give us. It’s doubtful that we will always understand his every design; at times, we may even struggle to comprehend why his will permits some challenge. But we need never doubt God’s goodness and his fidelity, because in Christ he has revealed the fullness of every blessing. Remember Mary – and respond with similar trust and generosity. Whatever the Lord wishes to do in your life, don’t seek to dictate terms, but open yourself to what God wishes to give.

My friends, even if you have waited until the last minute, make these last few hours of Advent count in your preparation for the coming feasts. Christmas is the remembrance above all else that the Lord is the best Gift-giver of all, for he has given us the gift of himself in his Son. He desires each of us to receive him anew with generosity of spirit and firmness of faith. With this gift, it’s not just the thought that counts, but also the response – a “Yes” that he wishes to hear from our lips, as he heard from Mary’s. Like her, may we remember that God has proven his faithfulness and love from all generations, and with grateful hearts, may we receive all that the Lord wishes to give.