THE GREATEST GIFT

Br. David Steindl-Rast, 97-year-old Benedictine monk and author wrote:

“The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves.”

Jesus said, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it” (Luke 17:33). This is a very heavy teaching concerning ‘clinging to our life’ or ‘letting our life go.’ The contrast is simple and obvious: If we cling to our life we lose it and if we let it go we save it.

It is as though clinging to life is like giving what we can spare and clinging to the gift and letting go of life is like thanksgiving. On another occasion Jesus said, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:25). The way I see this is that without giving myself away I have little to be thankful for except self-preservation. That’s misguided thanksgiving. To give away our life is to make intentional decisions to belong to the Kingdom of God and then share it with others.

“Those who love their lives in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” Jesus