One cannot help but catch our country’s infectious Christmas fever that starts to heat up the city’s atmosphere by the early weeks of September. Familiar children carols start sneaking their way into malls halls and restaurants, jangling multi-colored bells and glistening snow-laden Christmas trees gradually transforming local bookstores into a winter wonderland, Santa sliding down stairway railings followed by his faithful reindeers, and of course Yuletide lights starting to paint parks and buildings with electrifying rainbow shades. Christmas is HERE…at least, almost HERE!
An essential item during the season is gift wrapper. I have always wondered who started the idea wrapping gifts and what made him feel that ‘gifts’ were more special when wrapped. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to give a gift without wrapping it? Why waste resources and efforts to still cover something that would eventually be opened? Isn’t it a waste to delicately and artistically wrap gifts and end up tearing the wrapper and throwing it away (though this may not always be the case for some who would keep wrappers for some uncertain annual future use)?
Perhaps, wrapping gifts is meant to add an element of ‘surprise’. It is the detail of enjoying both the giving of a present and watching a person’s joy when he opens a gift and finally sees what it is. I believe another reason for wrapping presents is to convey an element of ‘sacredness’ or ‘newness’ in what we give. This in turn emphasizes how special the recipient is for the giver.
This is also the reason why we go to the extent of choosing a specific wrapper (i.e. its color and texture) which blends or suits a particular occasion or the position of the recipient. Thus, we have wrappers suited for every possible theme like Christmas, Valentines, weddings, birthdays and other social celebrations.
In the end, however, one thing is clear: the wrapper is not given any importance. Hardly do we hear anyone thanking us for the beautiful wrapper we used. Once the gift has been revealed, whatever previous significance was attached to the wrapper or ribbons are courteously put aside or disposed of into the waste basket.
God somehow, the greatest Giver of gifts, also follows our ‘custom’ of wrapping gifts. All His gifts to us come in the form of graces or blessings. These are often spiritual aids to lend us a greater capacity to believe, hope and to love. These are treasures that only He can dispense for man. But there is something unique about His wrappers: they do not only wrap His timely graces for us, they are also gifts that we cannot forsake.
When God sends man His grace, He packages it in such a way that the person will end up being wrapped and capable of giving himself to God as gift. Thus, our Lord is sure to send us His graces with specially chosen wrappers: suffering, misunderstanding, sickness, financial difficulties, family feuds, and many other less attractive events in life.
Thus, we may sometimes be afraid to open God’s presents because we think that what is inside may be similar or worse than the ‘unattractive’ wrapper that He sent it with. Sadly, many gifts from Him are immediately turned down because man has forgotten who the Giver really is and why He is giving such a personal gift to us.
Here’s an example: we planned to grow in our devotion to God. Thus, we set off with some strategy in our pious practices. Then one day, we get up feeling sick and tired. God has allowed us to suffer a slight fever. Because of this, we feel sad about not being able to carry out our plan and perhaps we may even lose our interests in praying. We have forgotten that God may have wanted us to learn a ‘new form of prayer’ through our illness.
Another example: God wants us to give us the gift of a deeper conversion by helping our sorrow grow for our past faults and present omissions. We know that the path of conversion can be greatly facilitated by making a good and sincere confession. We find ourselves in the Church hoping to find a priest. Instead, we are greeted by a reluctant pastor, who seems to feign tiredness and illness and casually tells us to come back another time.
Perhaps, we take this ‘first trial’ well. We understand that our pastors can be quite busy and may truly need some break. But how would we respond if in our next visit we are not only told the same thing, but had to wait double the hours of our previous attempt to go to confession? Frustration? Anger? Critical spirit? (…) All of the above?
We start to gnaw at the pastor’s ‘lazy attitude’, this snowballs against his ‘useless projects’ in the parish, then slams at the parish council and also the choir and finally topples the hierarchy and their lack of care for their flock. Finally, disappointed, we conclude that there’s really no reason to go back to ‘church’, to ‘prayer’, and ‘confession.’ By this reaction towards the ‘wrappers’ we have lost the opportunity to open a gift, because we have judged it unfitting simply because it looked so unappetizing.
Let us remember once again: God’s gifts always come wrapped especially for each of us. All we have to do is to realize that the ‘gift wrapper’ helps us receive and value His true gifts more. Thus, let us not judge His gifts by their wrapper but receive them trusting in God’s Fatherly providence.
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“You asked Our Lord to let you suffer a little for Him. But when suffering comes in such a normal, human form –family difficulties and problems … or those thousand awkward things of ordinary life– you find it hard to see Christ behind it. Open your hands willingly to those nails … and your sorrow will be turned into joy.” (St. Josemaría, Furrow, no. 234)