Gifts of the Spirit

ONE SUMMER a family provided work for a transient man even though they suspected he had a problem with alcohol. He spent the summer working for them, and with the arrival of fall, abruptly left. That Christmas a greeting card arrived from him. There was no message, just a signature. The post mark indicated the man was living hundreds of miles away. Then, in the spring, the man came to see the family. “I’ve stopped drinking,” he explained. “I’m now going to get a permanent job.” After the family thanked the man for his Christmas card, he explained it was the only card he sent that year. “I wanted it to say ‘Thank you,’ not for the work, but for the respect you gave me. It helped me to begin a new life.”



Gifts come in many forms. Perhaps the most common ones arrive on special days and are colourfully wrapped. However, some of the most exquisite gifts are gifts of the spirit like the one given by the family to the transient man with a drinking problem. Unlike material gifts which can wear out, go out of style, or simply be set aside and forgotten, gifts of the spirit have transforming powers and linger long. They soften calloused hearts, restore broken dreams, renew abandoned hopes, and infuse life with new vitality. Here are some gifts of the spirit to share freely and generously with others.





Kindness





Offering the gift of kindness can remind people that there are still good things in store for them, a “hope and a future” as is promised in the Bible. (Jeremiah 29:11) Kindness is a spiritual practice which means being generous with your presence, your time, your talents, your money. Mary Frances Santell of Fowler, Ohio, tells of the Valentine’s Day when her mother died after a two-year bout with cancer. “Mom had been my rock, always there for me, especially after I was divorced and raising two sons on my own,” she says. Shortly after the funeral, Santell’s friends from work remembered that before her mother became sick, Santell had talked about redecorating her living room. So, they asked Santell to visit a store picking out paint and wallpaper. “We’ll buy it and do all the work,” they explained. Early one Saturday morning, Santell’s friends and their families came over to her home spending the entire day painting and putting up wallpaper. “Every time I’m in my living room, I feel the love that’s all around me still,” she says.





Prayer





Make it your personal commitment to be a person who gives away the gift of prayer many, many times. This is a majestic gift which can be given anytime, anywhere and for anyone. Is someone you know grieving? Then pray, asking God to deliver comfort. Is someone you know, saddened? Then pray, asking God to restore joy. Is someone you know sick? Then pray, asking God to heal. Is someone you know unemployed? Then pray, asking God to open doors for new employment. Is someone you know separating or divorcing? Then pray, asking God to provide emotional stability, maturity and wisdom over the situation. Is someone you know burdened? Then pray, asking God to lift the burden and empower the individual to be renewed. The Great Apostle reminds us, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests… always keep on praying.” (Ephesians 6:18)



Prayer is a simple but powerful gift which you can give to those who are close to you as well as to those who are complete strangers.





Togetherness





The gift of time together conveys this dynamic message, “You are important to me. I want to be with you.” Try this simple exercise sometime. Ask yourself these questions:



When was the last time I changed my routine just to be with someone?       



When was the last time I did ‘nothing’ with someone I love?



When was the last time I spent carefree hours with someone I value?



Make togetherness a high priority in your life. Consider this sad lesson shared by a father who laments, “I used to work a lot of hours, sometimes working two jobs just to have that ‘extra cash’. It seemed important to make sure my kids had the best clothes, toys, went to the best schools – whatever. I wanted to drive a nicer car, have a nicer house, etc. There would always be tomorrow for field trips or the park… Now there is no tomorrow. My son died last year. He was only 14. I would live in a cardboard box for the rest of my life to be able to go to a football game or a concert with him. I would take the bus every day if it meant we could hit golf balls in the back yard again.” That father’s difficult experience is a strong reminder that offering the gift of togetherness indicates you have not lost sight of what is important in life and what you are working for in the first place. Make time to be with those whom you love and value. Adhere to this injunction of the Bible: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.” (Ephesians 5:15-16).





Service





The world’s great spiritual teachers universally sing the praises of service to others. “Make it your guiding principle to do your best for others,” urged Confucius. When the prophet Mohammad was asked, “What actions are most excellent?” he replied, “To gladden the heart of a human being, to fee the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.” Jesus taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) All around us are people in need: the sick, the lonely, the grieving, the abandoned, the misunderstood, the angry, the despairing. All of these call for our caring. To offset the feeling of being overwhelmed and the temptation to look away, remember the prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: “Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give and not count the cost; to fight and not heed the wounds; to toil and not seek for rest; to labour and not ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will.”



           



Hope





When a person deeply feels the pain of failure, disappointment, loss, and is despondent, do whatever you can to ignite hope again. Hope is an emotional heart stimulant. It is a powerful weapon against despair. The gift of hope activates the will to keep inching forward to the place where the darkness gives way to the light. At a low point in his life, the gift of hope was offered to Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, one of the few Asian Catholics to hold a top Vatican Post. He was regarded as a man of simple faith who suffered greatly for his beliefs. The Cardinal spent 13 years in prison and under house arrest in his homeland after the Communists came to power in 1975 following the Vietnam War. During his prison years, eight of which were in solitary confinement, the Cardinal continued to live by faith. He even taught one of his jailors to sing the ancient hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus. Then one day, when the Cardinal fell into a deep depression, the same Communist jailor, wanting to lift the Cardinal’s spirits, sang it for him in perfect pitch. Upon hearing the Communist guard sing that hymn, the Cardinal’s spirit soared with hope. He endured his confinement, was released from prison in 1991, and made a Cardinal in 2001.





Encouragement





Train your spirit to identify immediately those who are struggling because of a major failure or setback. When people are in a hard place where it is almost impossible for them to pull out even an ounce of optimism over their situation, be the one who steps in with words of encouragement. A few words of encouragement, carefully chosen, can make the difference between giving up and going on. That is why the Bible says, “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) Consider what happened to a young woman who had spent nearly a year in New York auditioning for various roles in Broadway, all to no avail. She was ready to quit when she received a letter from a high school friend who wrote, “Try to remember all the times in the past that you failed on many occasions. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You fell off your bike the first time you tried to ride. You sank when you first tried to swim. You fell off your skis on your first time on the slope. Yet, today you walk, ride, swim and ski very well. Keep trying. You’ll make it. I believe in you!” Whereas the young woman was on the verge of abandoning her dream for a career on Broadway, upon reading her friend’s letter, she did a quick turnaround, persevered, sought out and received other Broadway roles.



Perhaps the most wonderful fact about giving gifts of the spirit is this: the joy we give is the joy which always returns to us. It is by giving that we receive, as the celebrated Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi declares in such a moving way:





Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;



where there is hatred, let me sow love;



where there is injury, pardon;



where there is doubt, faith;



where there is despair, hope;



where there is darkness, light;



and where there is sadness, joy.



O Divine Master,



grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;



to be understood, as to understand;



to be loved, as to love;



for it is in giving that we receive,



it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,



and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.



Amen.