A Christmas Concern

It was the evening before a deadline, and I was starting to panic. It is not uncommon for college students and seminarians to have a similar experience. This time, however, the deadline before me wasn’t an academic one that would affect my grade, but rather one that would affect how five families spent their Christmas.

This year I was entrusted, as my one of my seminary house jobs, to be chairman of the seminary’s Social Concerns Committee. The committee is the charitable arm of our seminary. It operates similarly to a parish’s social concerns committee, organizing ways to reach out to the poor in our area. In the run up to Christmas, with the help of a priest friend, Fr. Mario Majano, who runs Mision San Andres in Silver Spring, we were able to figure out a plan to help less fortunate immigrant families. We would raise money in the poor box and purchase Walmart gift cards, so that families from Fr. Majano’s parish might be able to buy food for their Christmas meal and gifts for their children. With 50 seminarians at JPII, we figured that if everyone donated $10 we could give five families $100 gift cards. Now, back to the panic….

It was the night before the final poor box count, and we were short of our $500 goal. Announcements had been made, a newsletter had been sent, Catholic guilt had been invoked; there was nothing more we could do except politely remind our brother seminarians one final time. Second-guessing the entire initiative, I prayed that everything would somehow work out.

The next day, as we went to count the poor box, I remember contemplating what measures I would be willing to take upon myself to ensure that we met our goal. I wanted to make sure our committee followed through on its word and accomplished the deed we had set out to do, and I was relying on myself to do it. But, it was not me who did it; it was my brothers who came through! As we counted the poor box, we realized that almost $200 was added in one night! We had met our goal and exceeded it. Hearts had been moved to give generously, and it was clear that it was God who did it, not me.

I think that often, when we give to a charitable work, we view it as a benevolent action on our part. Or, alternatively, as an unpleasant thing we have to get through, as part of the “rules” of being Catholic. In either outlook, we are the central figure who is doing something for God. However, as I prayed about the lesson the Lord was trying to teach me through this, I recalled the words of a youth minister friend of mine, “Ministry is not our gift to God, it’s God’s gift to us.”
 

Nowhere was this more apparent to me than during my visits with the five families to provide them with their Christmas gifts. I gave the mothers of the families our signed Christmas cards with gift cards enclosed and found myself at a loss for words. They hugged me, invited me into their homes, and thanked me profusely. Their gratitude overwhelmed me. Yet, I had done nothing. I was merely the carrier to bring them the gift the Lord desired to give them. Rarely had I felt so small, yet so privileged to be able to witness the Lord at work. I felt that I was receiving a bigger gift than they were. Gone was the panic and fear of a few days earlier; all that was left was gratitude. I am filled with gratitude to the Lord for letting me be a small part of his plan, and I am excited to continue getting out of His way and letting Him work throughout my time of priestly formation.