10/8/15 Reflection - Gifts

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100815.cfm

Malachi 3:13-20
Luke 11:5-13

Our children teach us more than we know. At least mine did. 

My own father was a good but quiet man, actually he was somewhat detached. His detachment meant, among other things, that, before becoming a father, my notion of what that meant was far more academic than experiential.
I recall that, when I was young and single, I was not a particularly tolerant person, nor did I have a good understanding of human nature. My expectations of both myself and others sometimes bordered on the absurd. My willingness to make judgment calls on the skimpiest of information was naive at best. That, and other things, would change when I became a father.

One of our favorite family stories goes back to the time when our first child learned to talk. One day, when he wanted out of his playpen, I stood there in front of him, held out my hands and said "up?" He repeated the word: "up" --- it was his first --- and for months afterward he used the same word in an attempt to get what he wanted. My wife and I would sometimes lie in bed on a Saturday morning listening to a variety of intonations on the word "up." Up! Uuup. Up? uuUP. Etc. The variety was endlessly creative, though sometimes also endlessly repetitive. He was just trying to communicate.

As I said: our children can teach us many things. From that day I began to appreciate, in a way I did not before, the struggles we all go through to achieve even little things in life. My children taught me empathy and compassion in a way I had never known before. They taught me patience when it came to their growth and tolerance when it came to the latest faddish behavior. They were able to teach me these things because they were my children, and I wanted the best for them, and I loved them.

Our Heavenly Father didn't need to be taught these things. He knew them all along. We are his children. He wants what is best for us. And he loves us. That is the story behind the words we hear today through the prophet Malachi.

"And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him."

Our human fatherhood is but a poor reflection of the fatherhood of God, the One who is the Father of us all. In the same sentence, Jesus uses both the differences and the similarities to teach us what that means.

"If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”

We give, or try to give our children love and understanding, hope and encouragement, freedom and restraint. We look to their needs --- their food, their clothing, their shelter, their pains. We even seek to satisfy their wants and desires, their dreams and visions. Our Heavenly Father looks after these things too. Jesus told us so.

"And why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin;
Therefore do not be anxious, saying,
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
. . . your heavenly Father knows that you need them all."
(Matthew 6:28, 31-32)

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren." Adds the Apostle, James, "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights . . . . "(James 1:16-17)

But notice what perfect gift Jesus says the Father will give: it is not food or shelter or clothing that is at the pinnacle of gifts. It is not even safety from harm or protection from suffering. The gift which the Father sends in response to our prayer is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth which lights our way through the shadows of this world. He is the Spirit of life who fills us with the very life of God himself. He is the Spirit of love which holds the essence of our being securely in the palm of the Father's hand. He is the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge and understanding through whom we can know our Lord and Savior as more than an historical person or an object of church doctrine.

" . . . every perfect gift is from above. . . "
" . . . will [not] the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”