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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Christmas morning has come and gone and more than likely you've been asked two familiar questions since Christmas day.

1.What did you get for Christmas?
2.What did you give, so and so for Christmas?

As like most of us, you probably listed off all the items everyone gave you and how certain ones were your favorites and well, others you could do without. And of you may have gone on to tell close friends and family what you got for a loved one or friend.

And that's pretty much how it goes all over the world, that's it, over and done with, Christmas is done and time to get on with our busy lives.

But contrary to popular belief, it's not over. It was the journey of the Advent season that brought us to this point in time. Christmas is not just one day, it's a season filled with three weeks of getting closer to God's son, Jesus Christ.

The Advent journey should have made us stop to think much harder on what the upcoming Christmas season is all about. And had we listened closely, we probably would have answered those two questions differently all together. Sure, we would have mentioned our gifts we received from loved ones, but what did we REALLY receive? What should we have included along with those gifts from loved ones? In fact the number one thing on our list should have been....

"I received the reminder that with the birth of Jesus Christ, God the Father, sent His only son, to give me the gifts of Hope, Faith, Love, Charity, Forgiveness, and most importantly, Salvation. That is the most precious gift I received."

And after giving all those gifts to friends and loved ones, did any of us stop and give what Christ really wanted us to give? Did we give ourselves to Him and did we share His love with others? Did we give someone hope, when they had none? Did we let our faith shine for all to see? Did we forgive someone we truly needed to forgive? Those are the gifts we should have added to our “Christmas Shopping List”.

Remember though, these are things we should be giving all the year round, not just during the Christmas season....this time of year serves the purpose of reminding us of our duties as Christians and how we should be giving every moment of every day.

So during the rest of this Christmas season, should someone ask you what did you get and/or give for Christmas, what will your answer be?

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