“Living” Our Gifts"

In addition to the Christmas gifts we exchange as signs of our love and thankfulness for the people in our lives, we each receive many gifts that are not wrapped. These Godgiven
gifts - especially our personalities, personal and spiritual strengths, and other abilities - help to make us the unique persons we are. As children, we were taught to share our gifts (the family gaming console comes to mind!) While sharing, we learn how fulfilling it can be... to help younger siblings to learn how to use something, or share quality time
with our parents or grandparents.

While life includes significant challenges, we can still sing “Joy to the World” as we celebrate the greatest gift of God’s love in the human form of Jesus Christ! We experience
this divine love most often through the love and kindness of those around us, especially in our community of faith. Some of the greatest joys in the world include knowing how God has blessed us abundantly, and experiencing the Lord using our gifts to make a difference in someone’s life or in the world!

Our parishes are communities built of the “living stones” of parishioners sharing their gifts, talents, and faith to care for one another (1 Peter 2:4-6). More than just being a person in a crowd, we are called to “live our gifts” by using and sharing them with the Church and the world. As Pope Francis loves to say, we need to be “field hospitals for sinners”, not exclusive hotels for those who think they’re more religious. Each of us is a work in progress, blessed by God yet still working on how to live that out.

To really live the values of love, welcoming, compassion, and boldness which we proclaim in our Plainville-Wrentham Collaborative Parishes, we need lots of people who are open to discovering more about their personal gifts and sharing these with the parish Community. If it was only the handful of clergy and staff who were actively involved,
our parishes would be spiritually impoverished communities where only some people experience God’s love. Thankfully, the more parishioners we have “living their gifts” in our
community, the more we can bring Jesus Christ’s healing love to all who need it.

One very fruitful way of learning and growing in awareness of God’s love and the gifts he has given us is to participate in an adult faith experience, such as a Cursillo weekend
retreat or our Discovering Christ evening program. To learn more about Cursillo, contact Deacon Joe or Maggie Hoagland on our Pastoral Team. There are Discovering Christ
pamphlets in your bench - please read or take one if you are interested.

May this Christmas be blessed with many gifts showing you love: wrapped gifts and the many blessings God has given you! Like the gift of Jesus’ birth, your Parish Family
wants to show God’s love to you and invites you to join us in showing Jesus’ love to others, actively “living your gifts”.