December 26th, 2013 Commentary to Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation

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Thursday December 26, 2013
Claiming our Reconciliation

How do we work for reconciliation?  First and foremost by claiming for ourselves that God through Christ has reconciled us to God.  It is not enough to believe this with our heads.  We have to let the truth of this reconciliation permeate every part of our beings.  As long as we are not fully and thoroughly convinced that we have been reconciled with God, that we are forgiven, that we have received new hearts,  new spirits, new eyes to see, and new ears to hear, we continue to create divisions among people because we expect from them a healing power they do not possess.

Only when we fully trust that we belong to God and can find in our relationship with God all that we need for our minds, hearts, and souls, can we be truly free in this world and be ministers of reconciliation.   This is not easy; we readily fall back into self-doubt and self-rejection.  We need to be constantly reminded through God's Word, the sacraments, and the love of our neighbors that we are indeed reconciled.

My Commentary:

It is really interesting that those who have planned Nouwen’s meditation for this day talk once more about the theme of reconciliation.  This is the time for gifts.  Gifts that should never be exchanged, gifts that we should spend our lives in gratitude for: Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ not only came into our reality—God enfleshed but took upon himself the burden of death, our sins and Satan’s wage against the world.  His defeat upon the cross starts our journey of reconciliation.

One of the things I have been troubled with the past several Christmases is how strongly we are attached to making money, getting what we want… The media seems to spend an inordinate amount of time on the topic of the season’s economy profit margin… I remember a number of years ago I was at a church singles party where the theme was the joy of re-gifting…  Today, the day after the Nativity of Our Lord, all I have heard about on the morning news is that the mailing trucks are behind since they didn’t work on Christmas Day and that lines have started as early as 6am for people to get refund deals and get what they want…

Why is it so hard for people to be grateful for what they’ve received?  Has the graceless wilderness Satan would like us to grow into finally beginning to win over?  Living into the lifestyle of GRACE is a journey of reconciliation.  It is building a relationship in personally confessing to God your love for him and all the wonderful gifts he has given you.  It is acknowledging through humility you are a child of God and are genuinely regretting the sins you have done. 

The message I have received starting from shopping beginning on Thanksgiving to today; is that today is the biggest grossing sales day for what you want…. Is the value of gift beginning to lose its beautiful meaning?  It is bad enough Jesus once again takes a back seat to greed and indifference but if we can’t make room within the inn of our hearts for God’s GRACE—reflecting that GRACE with gratitude and Love towards neighbor…  We are embarking into that graceless wilderness (the reality of hell).

God Bless Your “Boxing Day” gatherings!

Nicole Collins