As we had our monthly re-correction at Lavigerie House, the facilitator Fr Okwi George M.Afr talked about the gifts life gives us. Life is the period between birth and death according to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English. And in this context, life is the period given to us to live on the earth which we call the pilgrim life as Catholics and gifts are chances given to us by life. The gifts according to the re-correction are as follows;
- The gift of family. We all have families where we belong and have responsibilities either as family heads or as members. The fact that we have seen some good and new things which may help our family members who do not know them; we should be the cement of happiness. We can provide what we can especially by mentoring and praying for them. We can start by living a worthy and happy life then they can see and learn from us. We should also thank God for the gift of our families.
- The gift of friends. As human beings, we all have friends and families where we belong. Friends are either because of who we are, or they have been with us since young age. Sometimes friends that we have can determine our character, like a saying “tell me your friend, I tell you who you are.” So they can define us, we should be mindful of whom to keep and who to leave. We should also be useful to them.
- The gift of work. All of us have who families and friends so have some work to do for them. God gave us land to use our hands and minds to produce what may be needed for us and our family members and friends. So we have to help people to get what to use in their life. As missionaries we should be ready for any work, he defined missionaries with this French phrase TOUT TERRAIN which may be used for a four wheel drive. Therefore, we should be hardworking and useful.
- The gift of problems. When I say problems are gifts, someone may ask “is this man normal?” But the fact is problems help us to mature up and that’s why I say they are gifts. The only way to help to determine whether they are gifts or not, is the way we handle them and our attitude towards them. The more we think about how difficult they are, the more they become difficult, just cool down and talk to God. So, whenever we get problems we should ponder about them to find a solution and an opportunity after them. We should also ask God to tell us the reason for them.
- The gift of money. We all have and need money to use in our present needs and the needs of others. Whenever we get money it’s a reminder that, there is labor, love and appreciation. So we should respect and work to get money for our use. But avoid being slaves of money and being capitalists who don’t care about others.
- The gift of time. We all need time to prove who we are and what we can do. That makes time precious and important. We should value our time and not slaves of time tables but users of time table.
- The gift of gratitude. This is concerned with being thankful to people we meet and God Himself. The Baganda have a saying “entasiima ebula agyiwa” (that if you are not grateful, you will lack who to give you). So we should be thankful even to what we think is so little. In case of mistakes, we should try to solve them instead of attacking those who commit them. Be thankful
- The gift of a giver. We don’t make anything on our own but we receive everything, which implies there is a giver. The giver in this sense is God our Father, redeemer and protector. There is nothing we can give other than being thankful. We thank Him for giving us all that we have.
- The gift of love. The most important gift is this, we all have those whom and what we think we love: and those that think they love us: even those who love us and whom we love. The question is why and what do we call love? Love is not a feeling but love is God and a gift, love is an affection of care responsibility and concern. St. Paul describes love in his first letter to the Corinthians 13:4-7(read it please). The lord Jesus gave us a command of love. Therefore we should love.
- The gift of mercy. We are all merciful, can we put that in practice. On 8th November 2015, Pope Francis declared a year of mercy, what shall we do as an act of mercy towards those that need it even ourselves? We were all urged to realize and be merciful to one another, especially those that need help.
- The gift of freedom. We all have the rights of doing whatever we want but be considerate and not misuse our freedom. Cardinal Lavigerie once said “am human and anything inhuman offends me” referring to the freedom of humanity. So we can do anything but be careful of not being slaves of freedom. We should choose the life that will give us happiness forever and at peace with God.
The last gift is the gift of
knowing. We all know something about something. But is it useful? Can it help
me? Should be the question we should ask ourselves. As one Greek philosopher
said “know thyself” Also we should know ourselves and what we can and we cannot
do. If God defined himself, why not us?
I can define myself and do whatever little I
can do with all my capability. Evaluate my diary actions know when and how to
improve. That is the message that I
thought we should think of and try to put in action we shall see a positive
change.
Prayer. God our father thank you
for the words of wisdom shared in this re-correction and our facilitator, thank
you for the gift of our lives, thank you for your love though we offend you,
you forgive us always, thank you. So we ask you to bless us and protect us in
fulfilling what you teach and want us to do. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
JOHN AGABA AMOOTI