Harry S. Truman claimed: “There is enough in the world for everyone to have plenty to live on happily and to be at peace with his neighbors.” As Christmas approaches, numerous organizations, schools, and towns collect toys, clothes, and food. Gifts for the less fortunate fill semis, overflow collection areas, and fill car trunks in amazing abundance, proving that there is enough when we are willing to share. It’s in the sharing that we can be at peace with ourselves and with our neighbors.

Here are a couple ways to give Christmas gifts so that others beyond the circle of family and friends can share in the plenty.

Consider foregoing the annual gift exchange at your place of business. Instead of giving to fellow employees, each person wraps a gift for a good cause. All can still enjoy opening gifts, but nothing is kept for oneself.

Instead of a gift exchange, put the agreed amount of money toward a charity such as Heifer International, St. Jude Hospital, Boys Town, or a local need.

Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others.” How is gratitude the progenitor of all the other virtues? Probably because the focus is not on ourselves. We have done little or nothing to receive our material and spiritual gifts. Moving the focus away from ourselves to the givers removes egotism and suppresses selfishness, leaving room for the gratitude the giver should receive from us. Many spiritual writers place thankfulness as the first ingredient in maturing our spiritual lives. God has given us everything. When doing so, Genesis claims that whenever God created, God’s response was “That’s good!”  It’s almost as if God gives the creature (light, trees, animals) the credit for its goodness. When God created us, God said, “That’s good.” And ever since God has delighted in our goodness. Of course, we pray our gratitude to God for all God’s gifts, especially our being. But no matter how often we say “Thank you, God,” God has outpaced us in smiling upon us as we use God’s gifts and hear God say “Thank you” to us.

Throughout his journeys Jesus freed people of their sin, shame, or illness. He freed the lame, the blind, the adulteress, the miserly to start a new future. Perhaps in that momentary encounter these persons let go of the past, not letting anything hinder their new future, their new perspective, the new hope and dreams Jesus provided.

God is always at the ready to do the same for us. Just as we cannot relate only to the past deeds of others, we must be ready to release our past, forego negative thoughts, relinquish old habits to take steps beyond where we are now. We need resilience and courage to create the next moment of our lives. Today think new thoughts, create a new future, and become a new you.

Whenever our community of three sits down to watch news, we choose a channel that nightly ends with a heart-warming story of altruism. It’s those last two minutes of good deeds, those selfless acts, the events that uplift others that offsets a bit the tragedies of the previous 25 minutes. Ilia Delio writes: “The more one affirms life in one’s fellows and gives oneself to enhance their lives, the more one is truly alive and thus truly oneself.” This is witnessed on the nightly news when the givers seem happier and more radiate than the jubilant receivers.

The Notre Dame Sisters in the United States have many experiences to enhance the lives of others. Some have spent time helping migrants at the border, others serve meals to the homeless, several give time to tutoring, and others assist in group homes. These Sisters typically claim, “I received more than I ever gave,” which is another way of saying, “I became more me.”

Our Immaculate Conception Province (AKA SNDUSA) is blessed with a marvelous leader. Sister Margaret Mary Gorman has spent the past week in the Toledo area. Our little community of three in Waterville, Ohio, was pleased to have dinner with her one evening. Conversation was relaxed, nothing forced or artificial, yet appropriately deep and light in turn.

We know of about ten meals that Jesus had—and certainly he had hundreds of other meals in his childhood home, at neighborhood gatherings, and on the road. I imagine that Jesus had a way of making everyone feel comfortable as they ate. There was freedom that allowed conversation to be a catalyst toward community and communion. For Jesus “table sharing is more than feeding. . . It is the way of becoming nourishment for one another, so that life may become more abundant together” (Ilia Delio). Ultimately Jesus gave himself as nourishment with the words “This is my Body. . . This is my Blood.”

I imagine that the meals we shared with Sister Margaret Mary have drawn our region of the province into more unity, more love for Notre Dame, more appreciation for its leadership, more eagerness for mission—just as those who dined with Jesus probably felt. That’s a great return for the little, unnecessary worry over sweet potatoes being done on time and a pie crust looking golden brown.

Ours in an “incarnational” spirituality-
A way of prayer and living like that of the Word incarnate,
Like that of God being everything human (except sin, of course).
We are called to incarnate the love of our good God who sees everything as good.
We see God in all things.
We see good in all things.
We see the possible in every person, every situation,
We bring life and hope.
We live our relationship with God in human ways.
We make God’s love visible.
We build relationships.
We connect with others.
We speak and act with Spirit-life.
We live in communion with all creation.

I hope my life looks like this.

It matters how near we are—
But then again it doesn’t.
Relationships are.
Bonds are circles—just circles—
Not Venn diagrams of who loves whom
Or squares where some can be pushed into a corner.
Bonds are circles forged by sharing sorrow, bearing another’s pain,
Bonds of need and longing,
Bonds of laughter, bonds of tears when words fail,
Bonds of conversation deep into the night.
They need us; we need them.
They free us; we free them.
Circles ever expanding, circumferences exploding in light years
Bigger and bigger from globe to universe
From earth to heaven
From time to eternity.

There are two ways of looking at humility –|
Maybe more than two.
One is to consider others our superior—
We the inferior.
Another way is to see ourselves as part of God.
Yes, God. God, who is gentle, kind, forgiving, cheerful, loyal, everything good in human nature.
And that is who we are—human.
There is more to us than we think, more to us than our imperfections, our foolishness, or lack.
More can be made of us than we suspect or imagine.
Christ is formed in us. We are Christ-ed. We are the stuff of which Jesus was made.
And God said everything, everyone was good-very good.
We can never think too highly of ourselves, for we can never think too highly of God.

Today’s gospel story is well known. Martha welcomes Jesus to her home. At the time of Jesus, men welcomed men into their home. I wonder where Lazarus was, that the honor fell to Martha. Yet the story of these two sisters gives evidence that the early Christians had much higher regard for women than others of that era had for them. Around the time Luke wrote his gospel we read in the Acts of the Apostles how some widows were being neglected. The disciples wanted to help; however, they realized that they could not leave their evangelizing tasks and journeys. The solution? Deacons, those known for their diakonia (service). Deacons were both men and women. In this story, Martha had a problem and a solution for her busyness; namely, she had too much to do and her sister could help her. Though Jesus was presented with this solution, he didn’t act on it.  Instead he made an important announcement by using Martha’s name twice. “Martha, Martha.” Service is important and appreciated. There are times places and persons for service in the Church. Yet the most important element in being a disciple is listening to the Word of God. That would never be taken from Mary.

I could hardly believe my ears when I heard the new Holy Father take the name of “Pope Francis.” The name announced something new in our Church—something to create “our common home” and leading to the document Laudato Si. We’ve read numerous times in recent weeks and heard speeches at the UN that this decade is our last chance. We know the story of Saint Francis of Assisi, how he literally took to heart Christ’s words “Rebuild my church.” The whole world, especially international corporations and heads of state, must tackle the huge, costly, and life-transforming solutions that are needed immediately. Even if we lack the will, the courage, and the means, we have no choice. What we do today to save Planet Earth and the lives of future generations is our only hope.