GIFTS FOR BABY JESUS:
INSPIRED BY EPIPHANY!

THIS WEBPAGE IS AVAILABLE
AS A PODCAST HERE

Have you finished all your Christmas activities and gift giving as the season winds down? There’s one very special person to whom you can still give gifts in a timely fashion! On Epiphany in early January, we celebrate the day in which Magi, known as the three kings (or the three wise men) came bearing gifts for the Christ Child.

These wise men are  are known to us from tradition as Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. They offered the Christ Child their gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh (Matt. 2:11).

Tom Nash, in a column from Catholic Answers linked here notes that according to Pope St. Gregory the Great that “the three items represent gifts that we are to present to God in our daily lives: gold is Christ’s wisdom, which is to shine in our lives; frankincense is the prayer and adoration we are to give him (see Rev. 8:3-4); and myrrh is our daily self sacrifices to the Lord (see Matt. 39; Rom. 12:1).”

Along this line, think of what gifts, that is to say, what virtues you’re adopting or reinforcing perhaps, that you can give Baby Jesus.

As we start the New Year, many of us make resolutions to improve ourselves in various ways. These can be part of a to-do list, the kind people make to stay on top of our day-to-day chores. Happily, I suggest, think of making your resolutions, in the spirit of the three wise men, as gifts for Baby Jesus from I would call, not a "to-do" list, but rather a “what I have failed to do” list.

Think for a minute of these lines from the Confiteor (which is also known as the Penitential Act) in the Mass: “I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have greaty sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.”

I find myself haunted at times by thinking of what I have failed to do, those sins of omission rather than commission, of the various graces our Lord has given me to do things that I’ve either ignored or otherwise put off acting upon.

This well known prayer to our Lord’s Holy Face that can be helpful in your being open to and receiving God's grace:

O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thine adorable Face to ask of Thee the graces of which we stand most in need, we beseech Thee, above all, to grant us that interior disposition of never refusing at any time to do what Thou requirest of us by Thy holy commandments and Divine inspirations. Amen.

Just as we offer up our sufferings and sins to our Lord on the Cross, of which we are especially made aware during Lent, might not this time right after the “mini Lent” of Advent be splendid to offer Baby Jesus your love, and your best efforts to repent from your sins, and practice their corresponding virtues?

From the crib to the cross, Christ dwelt among us and when the proper time came He experienced His brutal Passion to save us from our sins and to give us His grace. And as a reminder He is very much with us at Mass and in the tabernacle to help each one of us with those graces we sorely need on the road to sanctity and Eternal Life with Him in heaven!

So in the new year: are there some bad habits, some sins, you’ve been trying to give up? Don’t be shy about asking our Lord in prayer for His help and grace to be more virtuous!

Give whatever suffering you’re experiencing from them or just sufferings in general, to Jesus on the cross. And give Baby Jesus in the manger, the crib, your resolve to do better!

Are there people in your life you just can’t forgive? Give your wounds from various hurts to Jesus on the cross. And then give Baby Jesus your desire to at least pray for those giving you grief and to cool the fires of your anger, whether it's righteous or not!

Are you suffering from despair and distrust in God's Providence acting on your behalf? Give that to Jesus on the cross. Do you want to trust rather that He will see you through whatever trying times you may be experiencing if you stay close to Him in prayer? Give that to the Christ child as well.

Is gluttony a recurring problem for you? Give your repentance for over indulging in food or drink to Jesus on the Cross. And then give Baby Jesus your best efforts for temperance.

Do you feel listless or slothful? Give whatever anxiety you feel from this to Christ on the cross and Baby Jesus your resolve to be more diligent in doing God’s will.

Do you feel besieged by sinful lustful thoughts and actions? Give them to Jesus on the Cross and then give Baby Jesus your desire to live in purity in thoughts and words.

Are you naturally given in to fits of envy? Give those to Jesus on the cross and then give the Christ Child your gift of genuine humility!

As a reminder, given the state of fallen humanity we all suffer one way or another. And yet we can offer up those sufferings in an expiatory manner to Jesus on the cross for sinners, including ourselves, loved ones, people that have hurt us as well as those we might not even know so that we can all might Eternal Life with our Lord in heaven someday!

Offering up suffering may not eliminate your pain but it makes it easier to bear, as kind of an emotional as well as a spiritual analgesic. This is something very important to remember, especially if you feel depressed from some emotional wound or loneliness you might have experienced during the Holidays.

Keep in mind as well that God knows every one of our weaknesses, our strengths, our frailties, and our vulnerabilities. When you look at a Crucifix you can certainly see how vulnerable He made Himself to save us, to share our humanity so that one day we might be able to share in His divinity!

So, again, as you start the new year, think about what resolutions to do better you can give Jesus in Bethlehem, as well as your sufferings and your sins to Him on the cross at Calvary. That way you can better show your love for him.

And your “what I have failed to do list” can become shorter in the way you show His love to others in who you treat them! May God give you many graces in the New Year from such efforts; and may they become less and less burdensome and more and more effortless, as well as effecacious, through Christ our Lord. Amen!

God Bless,

Christopher Castagnoli
for www.ourcatholicprayers.com