The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
1 February 2004
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Dunbar mystery unraveled
New school bid for ‘male-only’ offers
Twins among high achievers
Parents urged to read new books
Steps to safety
Priests honoured
Doing the Lord’s work
Religious named
Pregnant pause: To do or not to do? Oh, baby!
Insurance board post
Caring for needy
Lay Catholics
Editorial: True blue
Letters: Thanks to institute
Conversation: Mons Paul Ssegemogerere, vicar general of Kampala, Uganda - Helping his country tread the right path
Today – God’s gift to us all
Refugee children say ‘thanks’
Chinese community has much to celebrate
The stained-glass detective
Teacher, priest and puppeteer
Riding a wild horse ...
Up there, Ignatius!
Mates give Bulls’ groom Super send-off
Today – God’s gift to us all
Sr Mary Trainor RSM
Someone once said, that to be sure of a place in God’s house we only need to do what we can with what we’ve got at any given time. It may sound like over simplification, and yet within it there lies profound truth.
Each of us is gifted by God simply by being alive. I am, you are, unique and special. No human being possesses an identical DNA, or thumb print or just exactly the mixture of giftedness of nature or of grace as any other.
St Paul enumerates for us what he describes as the gifts of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self control. The seeds of all of these have been planted in the depths of our being, and await our cultivation.
The thing about a gift is that it usually arrives wrapped up, or even disguised in some way. It can take some time and initiative on our part to unwrap it or even to recognise it.
Some gifts are instantly appealing.
Some take time to be understood.
Others are like deep wells that yield treasure upon treasure.
Even pain and suffering can be gifts through which we discover even greater gifts – of mercy and compassion – of forgiveness and healing.
Some of the most extraordinarily gifted people I have met have emerged transformed from the crucible of suffering.
Today is God’s gift to each of us; let us unwrap it with care and use it with love. It is all we have, and it is all we need.
That is why now has been called the present.