12/30/18: Feast of the Holy Family: What We Want to Receive We Must Give

Today's first reading brings us back to the dramatic story of the birth of the great Old Testament prophet Samuel. Samuel's mother Hannah had struggled with infertility for years until God finally answered her anguished pleas for a child by giving her a son. Before she conceived Samuel, she made a promise to God that, if He gave her a son, she would offer him back to the Lord to be consecrated for His service. And Hannah, generously, kept her promise. What we see in Hannah is a spiritual principle found through the Scriptures -- what St. John Paul II called "the law of the gift". If we want to receive from God, first we must give.