“He called them, and immediately they left”
What is the plan of God for man? “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.” [1] In this one question alone we see the gifts that man has been given by God. These gifts are: a shared life in the goodness of God, salvation from sin through the Son of God, an invitation into the Church, adoption as a child of God through the work of the Holy Spirit, and a sharing in eternal happiness. Man has been given only gifts from God: gifts to be opened, cherished, and lived. We hear many times how children are gifts from God and this is also true of the adopted children of God. Every life is a gift from God. The Christian, to whom God has given every good thing, is called to give himself away out of love, to God first and then to man out of love of God.
We are created to give the gift of our very selves. But before we can give this gift of self, we first have to appreciate the gift of ourselves and recognize ourselves as gifts. Saint Therese’s words help with this. She says that perfection consists in doing God’s will, in being what He wills us to be. The Gift of Self is then being who God wills you to be and then giving that self in love to God and to others.
People often ask us what we want to be, what we want to do with our lives. The Christian who prays “Thy will be done,” is asking himself what does God want me to be, what does God want me to do? For this reason Saint Benedict put the phrase “to hate one’s own will” in his Rule of Life. It seems harsh to “hate one’s own will,” but we should indeed hate our own wills, our own desires, if they are not in union with God’s Holy Will and Desire. “I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God’s Holy Will, not my own!” [2] With Saint Gabriel, we must break our wills into pieces first to find out what exactly it is that we want and desire, then second to see if our will conforms to the Will of God.
The four apostles, Peter, Andrew, James and John were called and they immediately left to follow Jesus. They gave themselves away immediately, without hesitation, abandoning their entire selves to God’s Holy Will.
Daisy by Switchfoot
Daisy, give yourself away, Lookup at the rain, The beautiful display
Of power and surrender, Giving us today, And she gives herself away
Rain, another rainy day, Comes up from the ocean, Give herself away
She comes down easy, On rich and dead the same, And she gives herself away
Let it go, Daisy, Let it go, Open up your fist. This fallen world, Doesn't hold your interest, It doesn't hold your soul Daisy, let it go
Pain, give yourself a name, Call yourself contrition, Avarice of blame
Giving isn't easy, Neither is the rain, When she gives herself away
Daisy, why another day? Why another sunrise, Who will take the blame
For all redemptive motion, And every rainy day, When he gives himself away
God, the author of all, teaches us the mystery of giving of self in what Saint Therese calls the “book of nature.” “Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers. And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus' garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God's glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be. Just as the sun shines simultaneously on the tall cedars and on each little flower as though it were alone on the earth, so Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just as in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul.” [3]
Why would God want us to give our self to Him? God’s wants us to offer our self to Him for the same reason He wants all of creation to offer itself to Him. God as the Creator is pleased and it brings Him great joy to glance down and gaze at His creation. God is most pleased when creation does what it was created to do. All of creation, rocks, plants and animals do what they were created to do, they have no choice. Angels and humans are given free will and must choose to be what they were created to be. God is much more pleased with the angels and humans than with the rest of creation because angels and humans have freely chosen Him. God loves us for our own sake. This means that He loves us for no other reason than for who we are. Just as God is pleased with His creation and their actions, He can also be offended by His creation and their actions when they act in a way contrary to the good. God was offended and displeased with the angels who rejected Him (Satan and the fallen angels). In the same manner, God is offended and displeased when humans freely reject Him. We do not want to be in the company of Satan and the fallen angels nor those humans who have rejected and continue to reject Him. This is why we pray in the Psalms, “Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening sacrifice. Set a guard, Lord, before my mouth, a gatekeeper at my lips. Do not let my heart incline to evil, or yield to any sin.” [4]
Rather than be in the company of sinners, we strive and pray to be in the company of the Angels and Saints. We are reminded of this at each Mass when the priest prays, “To us, also, your sinful servants, who hope in your abundant mercies, graciously grant some share and fellowship with your holy Apostles and Martyrs: with John the Baptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia and all your Saints: admit us, we beg you, into their company, not weighing our merits, but granting us your pardon, through Christ our Lord.” [5]
Is it possible that we might not be in the company of the Saints and Angels? Yes! Heaven, our goal is our sharing in the eternal exchange of love and unity, which is the Blessed Trinity. We can be obscured and miss this goal. Sharing in the eternal exchange of love, is the good pleasure of God “who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”[6] We pray to God that He, “direct our actions according to [His] good pleasure.” [7] If we were already assured of attaining heaven, we would not need to pray for it. It is important to understand that heaven is promised to us, but we must accept that promise.
Why is it easy for a flower to give itself, but hard for man to give of himself? Part of a flower’s nature, part of what it was created to do, is to give of itself. Part of human nature is to give our self. Humans can choose to give, whereas a flower cannot. Humans have the option to freely give or not to give. A human chooses to give the gift of self. The nature of a flower is that of a flower. A flower cannot choose to give itself, it just does. The nature of a human is to think and to act, these are powers of our soul. A flower gives to God according to its nature; we too should give to God according to our nature and thus offer our thoughts and actions to Him. Due to the original sin, man’s nature has suffered a double darkness, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Our minds have been darkened. This ignorance affects are ability to think well. Our will has been weakened, which affects our ability to act well, and thus we fall into sin. Our human nature is good, but fallen, and thus Christ gives us grace to aid and redeem our fallen nature.
What is the reward of giving of one’s self? Unlike the flower that grows, blossoms, and then wilts away, our soul is everlasting. When we give the gift of self, we are able to reap the rewards for all eternity in Heaven. On the contrary, if we do not give the gift of self, we will reap the punishments for all eternity in Hell.
Why does God give humans the choice to give the gift of self? “Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” [8] It is in giving our self away that we find our self. One reason that God gave humans the choice to give the gift of self is so that each person can begin to understand that they truly are a gift in and of themselves. Another reason God gave humans the choice to give the gift of self, is because humans have free will. God wants us, but he will not take us by force, rather He desires that we freely give our self to Him.
What does perfection consist of? What makes you perfect, in the eyes of the world, the eyes of Christ? As Saint Therese says, “Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.” The world needs us, but not just us. The world needs us in union with Christ. The world should not just see us, but Christ in us, and what we are through Christ, with Christ and in Christ. Each time we hear this prayer “Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, for ever and ever” [9] we should remember that Christ lives in us and we are a new creation, a new man in Christ.
Pope John Paul II challenged the youth as they entered the new millennium to be Christ-bearers, to carry Christ into the world. “You will carry the proclamation of Christ into the new millennium. When you return home, do not grow lax. Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to which you belong. From Rome, from the City of Peter and Paul, the Pope follows you with affection and, paraphrasing Saint Catherine of Siena’s words, reminds you: ‘If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!’” [10]
Many times our standard for perfection is comparing our self to others or to goals that the world or people have for us. We must remember that we can only be perfect, and will only be perfect, when we know and act out God’s will. It is then that we will be what we should be and set the whole world on fire.
When a surgeon wants to find imperfections they shine light on the body. It is in the light that the body can be made perfect. An artist shines light on a canvas in order to perfect each stroke. It is then only in the light of Christ that humanity can know it’s imperfections and be made perfect through the grace of God.
“Shine on me, O fire ever burning and never failing (cf. Ex 3:2), and then I shall begin, through and in your light, to see light, and to recognize you truly as the source of light. Stay, sweet Jesus, stay for ever. In this decay of nature, give more grace. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine: so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be mine. No merit to me. It will be you who sine through me upon others. O let me thus praise you, in the way which you love best, by shining on all those around me. Give light to them as well as to me; light them with me, through me. Teach me to show forth your praise, your truth, your will. Make me preach you without preaching – no by words, but by my example and by the catching force, the sympathetic influence, of what I do – by my visible resemblance to your saints, and the evident fullness of the love which my hearts bears to you.” [11]
[1] Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church – Section 1
[2] St. Gabriel Possenti
[3] Saint Therese, the Little Flower – Story of a Soul
[4] Psalms 141:2-4
[5] The Order of the Mass; Eucharistic Prayer; Roman Canon
[6] 1 Timothy 2:4
[7] Collect - 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)
[8] Council of Vatican II; Gaudium et Spes, 24
[9] The Order of the Mass; Eucharistic Prayer
[10] John Paul II; Homily at World Youth Day, Tor Vergata, Sunday 20 August 2000
[11] J.H. Newman, Meditations on Christian Doctrine, page 365