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🎁 Holy Monday tots

Guys I have a question for yalls—who are you when someone gifts you something?

There may be more types, but depending on the situation, the gift, and the giver, we all might see a mix of these types in ourselves. I myself am a Happi Happi most of the time, formerly a Guilty. Sometimes I’m a Grandchild if the gift was well-meant but something I couldn’t use, e.g. clothes that are too small for me. But for some reason, I feel like all reading this have recognized a Guilty somewhere within them. So let’s talk about this tendency.

It’s quite common to feel guilty if we receive something we don’t think we deserve. Picture it: you walk down a street of luxury brands with your rich auntie, and something catches your eye. Staring at it admiringly, your aunt notices you and says, “You want it?” And soon, you leave the store in embarrassment as your aunt hands you the bag with that item in it, waving off your “you didn’t have to!”s and “i was just looking; I didn’t want it anyway”s. “It’s yours,” she says. But you don’t feel like it’s yours. It feels undeserved, unmerited.

Neither does the gift have to be anything monetarily expensive. Sometimes, it can be as simple as a handmade gift or a free meal from a friend. Instead of simply being thankful and taking note of another opportunity to show your gratitude, you may feel the urgent need to “pay them back” in some way, as soon as possible. Grateful reciprocation is a very normal reaction, common to decent human beings, but if you cannot accept anything without knowing how you can return the favor, you may have a problem there, amigo.

If you follow the Daily Mass Readings, today’s Holy Monday Gospel was about the pouring of oil over Jesus’s feet. Six days before the Passover, Jesus visits the house of His close friends Lazarus (whom He rose from the dead), and his sisters Mary and Martha. Mary, in an act of devotion, took a pound of aromatic nard worth 300 denarii (about $30,000 and $55,000+ in today’s times) and poured it all over Jesus’s feet, “the scent filling the house” (John 12:3). That stuff was expensive. It was worth one year’s worth of wages, and could’ve been sold and donated to the poor instead, which Judas lowkey-greedily pointed out. But Jesus wasn’t bothered. He saw the intention behind Mary’s gesture, and essentially told Judas, “Let her. You will always have the poor, but you won’t always have Me.”

How does this tie in to the gift theme we were discussing earlier? In the reflection video, it spoke about giving our God the best of us, as He gives us the best of Himself. And when you think about it, a jar of aromatic nard pales in comparison to the gift of FOREVER salvation and paradise. What we could offer God is nothing compared to what He already gave us—a destiny not doomed to destruction because of our mistakes and brokenness. A way out of the earthly rat race, chasing mirages that ultimately leave us unsatisfied.

Quite the gift to reciprocate, huh T-T

But it brings me back to that mindset, you know. Put yourself in the giver’s shoes—“I cared about you enough to want to give you something that represents that / I thought you would like this.” Perhaps not all gifts hit the same level of thought and care, but in the case of cough eternal life + purpose + identity cough that’s definitely something we cannot ever come close to paying back. And God doesn’t call us to do that. He’s calling us to just TAKE IT. Like, “I did NOT just die an excruciating death and live My whole LIFE in the hopes that you’ll finally decide to spend forever with Me, JUST for you to reject Me because you didn’t feel worthy? Feeling worthy isn’t the point. I love you so much, so why won’t you just let Me love you?”

Worthiness isn’t earned when it comes to God, because it means worthiness can be un-earned. God loves you, gang- And He has so much to offer you. God has given the best of Himself, so how will you give the best of yourself to Him?

And the next time you Guilty’s receive a gift? Let’s work your receiving ability without triggering your hypersensitive giving ability. The best way to reciprocate a good gift is not through guilt, but by wholehearted gratefulness. I’ll see you in the next one :))