What Will You Give Jesus This Christmas?

From Crisis Magazine What Will You Get Jesus for His Birthday?

The thought that Christ wanted me at a time when I was so displeased with myself was sobering, relieving, and enough to inspire a few silent tears

 

 

Two years ago, about two weeks into Advent, I posed a question to my class of high school sophomores: What will you get Jesus for His birthday? We spend so much time thinking about what we will give our loved ones—we are intentional, searching for the thing that will demonstrate how well we know them and their desires. Weeks of shopping aim to deliver a gift that will give them that feeling of Christmas magic. The hunt is epic, the purchase triumphant, and the joy of giving is reward enough. The reason for doing all this is, of course, Jesus’ birth; though I fear we often give Him so little. 

“What do you mean, Ms. Karp? What can I give Jesus?” my students responded. 

We discussed different ways we can make an offering to the Lord: fasting, participating in extra service work, paying attention to areas of prayer we struggle with, being consistent in prayer, getting flowers for the Mary statue, and so on. I explained to them that Jesus’ love language is quality time, so some extra time in prayer is always a good gift. 

The more contemplative students really examined their prayer lives and opted to give Jesus the things they had been holding back in prayer. Others went with more concrete offerings. Despite the reflection being one of my own creation, I had no personal answer. I did not know what I could possibly have to give Jesus that would be good enough.  
The pinnacle of Christmas joy when I was a kid was Christmas 2002, when my sister and I received the ultimate gift. It was the thing we knew our parents would never buy us—something too big, too expensive and extravagant, too perfect…the Barbie Travel Train! I look back on this now with great fondness and treat it as an example of what Christ so often gives to us. He gives us things bigger than we allow ourselves to hope for. He gives us things that satisfy us so intimately. He gives us something perfect. 

That Christmas two years ago, I wanted to give Jesus something that would make him “Travel-Train-happy.” My search for the perfect gift was frequently interrupted. Teaching at a new Catholic high school certainly kept me busy. I was in a new relationship at the time. And I was struggling with my health. 

The fall of 2021 was the height of a long bout of what I referred to at the time as “mystery disease.” After more doctors than I care to count and a strange array of symptoms, I finally got a diagnosis, but only after my condition became severe enough to land me in the hospital. I never expected to have an autoimmune disease at twenty-five, and it certainly rocked my world. All the parts of myself that I loved were slowly slipping through my fingers. My curves melted away to reveal a skeletal frame, my long hair became half as thick, my rambunctious energy was replaced with a quivering frailty, and my spirits were at an all-time low. 

Usually, I would have gone above and beyond in the gift-giving department. I would have harnessed my creativity and strong work ethic to pull off something remarkable. But at that time, I had nothing that could possibly be good enough. I had nothing left to give. 

I remembered the gifts of the Magi, the dedication of the shepherds in their travels, and even the percussion solo of the drummer boy. I had little money left to give after medical bills, I could barely walk across the parking lot without feeling faint, and I was terrible at the drums. The prayers I had to offer were sad, angry, and confused; hardly the Gloria that Christ deserves.

Christmas Eve arrived, and I still had yet to answer for myself the question posed to my students: “What will you get Jesus for His birthday?” As tradition held, I would be singing in the choir with my family at Mass and acting as official page turner for my brother, the pianist. I looked out on the quiet church from the choir loft before Mass began. The strung lights illuminated the altar, and an empty manger sat quietly in front, awaiting the baby Jesus that our priest would process down with once Mass began. I saw that empty manger, and I felt my own emptiness. I wished for something good enough to give. 

In answer to my silent prayer, a wave of peace washed over me, and I knew that the only thing Jesus wanted, the only thing that could make Him “Travel-Trainhappy,” was me. Broken spirit, broken body, the humblest of offerings. That’s what He wanted most, if I was only willing to give. 

“But it’s not good enough.” I whispered in the depths of my heart. 

“But it’s all that I want.” I heard in reply. 

The thought that Christ wanted me at a time when I was so displeased with myself was sobering, relieving, and enough to inspire a few silent tears. The ultimate gift is love, a full and free exchange of personhood. Mary lovingly submits her will when the angel Gabriel comes to her. She does not have to say fourteen novenas or fast for a month. She lays her life in God’s hands in loving trust. Christ gives Himself for us in the most intimate and radical way, so of course the thing He wants most is simply us in return. 

I looked again at the manger and accepted that the frail and vulnerable self I had to offer was a perfect fit in that nativity scene. In a moment, I understood that even in my weakness, emotional, spiritual, and physical, I could still be pleasing to the Lord—and not just “pleasing” but, in fact, His most cherished gift. 

Christmas looks very different this year. I am no longer Ms. Karp. I will be in Chicago with my husband, my first Christmas away from home. I am in clinical remission, and I praise God daily for my good health. I feel more like myself, but I still find myself asking, what does Christ desire most this Christmas? 

My inclination to conjure up something grand remains. My energy and ambition have returned. I know in my heart of hearts that His request has not changed, but every year it is hard to believe. Though my imperfections are of a different variety now, they still do not deter Him. I have to remind myself of the many things I have to be thankful for and offer all that I am, all that I have, humbly at His feet. 

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. —St. Ignatius of Loyola 

  • Katie Łastowiecka

    Katie Łastowiecka is a classical education advocate, presenter, and instructor specializing in upper level literature and drama. Currently, she is a freelance writer and teaches at Kepler Education. She holds a masters in education and a bachelors in English.

Quote for the Day

It’s so important to understand that “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words” (Prov. 18:21). Whatever you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart should be established in the spirit realm. John Ramirez

Quote for the Day

We have missed the mark because we lack the spirit of discernment. We need to ask the Lord to give us spiritual eyes that see Him and spiritual ears that hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. This is not a put-down. It’s a wake-up call for all of us who believe in Christ. It is time to pray. John Ramirez

Reflection on Isaiah 14

Scripture

For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven, and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.”

Observation

The Lord will bring His people home. He will have mercy on them.

The king of Babylon will be destroyed by the Lord. The spirits in the world of the dead will mock him. For all of his pretensions of greatness, he is as weak as any other dead person.

He said to himself that he would set his throne above God’s stars. He would climb to the highest mountain, the mountain of the gods, and preside over them.

The Lord will make Babylon a desolate place. He will also break as Syria and Philistia

Application

People sometimes attribute parts of this the self-exaltation of lucifer or satan. There is nothing in the text to suggest that it is anything other than a rhetorical attack on Babylon.

We can see, though, how people think, often under the influence of satan. They should be the top dog – the leader of the world, the CEO of the company, or the pastor of the local church. They deserve the place of honour, they think; the right to control other people’s lives.

This is not the way of the Lord. Jesus tells us to put others ahead of ourselves. The way to the top is through an attitude of service – serving others and serving the Lord. This is to be done without any thought of personal reward.

This is a hard lesson for some. We must learn to serve.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to love the place of service. Show me any attitude of pride that stops me from walking in your ways. Amen.

Kurt Mahlburg: Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

From the Daily Declaration:

pfizer

Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

20 DECEMBER 2023

4.3 MINS

The state of Texas is suing Pfizer for an allegedly defective Covid-19 product in a lawsuit that has grabbed the attention of The Australian.

The State of Texas has launched a major lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for engaging in “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices” in the marketing of its Covid-19 injectable.

Lodged by Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton late last month after a thorough state investigation, the 54-page suit calls Pfizer’s product “the miracle that wasn’t” and takes particular aim at the company’s “95% effective” claim.

“Placing their trust in Pfizer, hundreds of millions of Americans lined up to receive the vaccine. Contrary to Pfizer’s public statements, however, the pandemic did not end; it got worse,” the petition reads.

“More Americans died in 2021, with Pfizer’s vaccine available, than in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. This, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of Americans received a COVID-19 vaccine, with most taking Pfizer’s.”

Pfizer’s Alleged False Advertising

The lawsuit’s significance was not lost on Australia’s national broadsheet, with Adam Creighton of The Australian warning Tuesday that events in the Lone Star State “could have wide-ranging political ramifications across the developed world”.

“Pfizer appears to have exaggerated the effectiveness of its vac­cines, making unfounded claims that routinely were parroted by governments, health officials and much of the mainstream media,” Creighton wrote.

He continued:

Remember “95 per cent effective”? According to Texas, “0.85 per cent effective” would have been a more accurate sales pitch. Pfizer ran one large clinical trial in 2020 to obtain emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, which then green-lit the rollout. About 22,000 people were given a placebo and another 22,000 two shots of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, and the results recorded two months later.

In the placebo group 162 people developed symptomatic Covid-19, but only eight in the vaccinated group, which is how the “95 per cent effective” was calculated. Yet according to the US Food and Drug Administration’s own guidelines this “relative risk reduction” measure is misleading and should at least be accompanied by the “absolute risk reduction”, which in this case was 0.85 per cent (0.9 per cent risk of contracting Covid-19 without vaccination, minus 0.04 per cent with).

Interestingly, the trial didn’t test the groups for asymptomatic Covid-19 using PCR tests, the kind we had to undergo repeatedly for the best part of two years, so who knows how many people in either group were infected. In terms of deaths from all causes across that two-month trial period, 21 people died in the vaccinated group and 17 in the placebo group — the opposite of what one might have expected.

“What’s on trial isn’t merely Pfizer but the institutions of governance in the developed world,” Creighton concluded.

“If Texas wins, it will have highlighted perhaps the greatest medical fraud in history, and the abject failure of medical regulators on a scale at least as large as banking and financial regulators in 2008.”

Covid-19 Injections and All-Cause Mortality

If the Texas lawsuit is successful, the implications in Australia could be monumental.

A recent study looking at deaths by all causes in 17 southern hemisphere countries, including Australia, uncovered a “definite causal link” between the rollout of Covid-19 injectables and peaks in all-cause mortality.

The Canadian team behind the study identified approximately 1 death for every 2,000 injections and concluded that “the Covid-19 vaccines did not save lives and appear to be lethal toxic agents”.

Data from various Australian states apparently corroborates this finding.

Most Queensland Covid-19 deaths were of people who were “fully vaccinated” when the state borders first opened in December 2021.

Likewise, Western Australians suffered exceptionally high rates of adverse events following Covid-19 injections — with a staggering 57% of them presenting at a hospital — at a time when most of the population was injected but no Covid-19 cases were recorded.

Indeed, excess deaths were already being detected in Australia in 2021 when the injection rollout was in full swing but many states still had no Covid-19 cases.

Injection Mandates and Censorship

Despite the Australian Immunisation Handbook explicitly stating that vaccines “must be given voluntarily in the absence of undue pressure, coercion or manipulation”, Australian governments imposed heavy-handed injection mandates on the nation’s citizens.

Australians were deprived of their freedom to work, travel, use public and private amenities, and be with loved ones at important moments such as births, deaths and funerals, unless they received the Covid-19 products that are now the subject of the Texas lawsuit.

Rather than listening to community pushback, the Australian Government voted down two bills aimed at shielding citizens from vaccine discrimination and launched a campaign of censorship against those who raised concerns. 

Following an FOI request by Senator Alex Antic, it was revealed that the Department of Home Affairs — whose purview includes border security and counter-terrorism but not public health — wilfully violated the free speech of thousands of Australians.

As reported at the time by The Daily Declaration, 

In total, the Australian Government flagged 4,213 Covid-themed posts for suppression.

While some posts contained irrational or unverified statements, the Commonwealth also blacklisted many legitimate claims made by Australian citizens.

Among them were posts correctly stating that Covid-19 injections did not stop infection or transmission of the virus, that masks and lockdowns were ineffective, and that Covid-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Content posted by Australian medical professionals was also censored, along with calls for peaceful protest against heavy-handed pandemic measures, and perhaps most cynically of all, testimonies of the vaccine-injured.

Australia’s Pfizer Contracts in the Spotlight

The most significant implications of the Texas lawsuit for Australia will likely be in regards to the agreements struck between the Federal Government and pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer.

When signing contracts with Covid-19 injection suppliers, the government granted companies total legal immunity if their products resulted in the maiming or killing of Australian citizens.

In the case of contracts with Pfizer, those agreements were based on the same trial data now being scrutinised in Texas.

It was on the basis of the same trial data that the Australian Government purchased vast quantities of Covid-19 injectables from various Big Pharma outfits, to the tune of almost ten doses per citizen.

To date, the Federal Government has spent at least $18 billion on Covid injectables and other treatments, approximately half of which have since been binned.

Of the first 255 million vaccine doses purchased, only 60 million were used, with more than half set to expire and be dumped, to the estimated value of $3 billion.

Approximately half of all Covid-19 injectables acquired by the Australian Government were purchased from Pfizer.

The lawsuit brought by Texas AG Ken Paxton alleges five violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and is seeking more than US$10 million in civil penalties against Pfizer.

It has been filed in Lubbock state district court in north-west Texas.

Reflection on Isaiah 13

Scripture

Babylon will never be inhabited again. It will remain empty for generation after generation. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not bed down their sheep.

Observation

Isaiah prophesies against Babylon.

The Lord is assembling an army against Babylon. Vast armies march from distant countries. Scream in terror for the day of the Lord is coming.

On the day of the Lord, the land will be made desolate. The Lord will shake the heavens and the earth to display His anger.

The Lord will stir up the Medes against Babylon. The most glorious of Kingdoms will remain empty for generations.

Application

Babylon was the most glorious of kingdoms. It commanded a huge empire. Then the Lord pulled it down, installing the Persians and the Medes in its place.

It seems that the takeover was swift as these things go. A couple of battles was all it took for the former ally to reign over Babylon.

In the Old Testament, Babylon represents godless worldliness. Because it is rebellious towards God, He is always against it in all of its forms.

Our current culture in the West is more like Babylon than it is Christian. People and culture are obsessed with creating wealth and exercising power. It has become opposed to christianity, dismissive of the church.

As our society exhaust itself in self-indulgence, it is clear that another world empire may overtake us in cultural and military dominance.

That is, unless a great Awakening transforms our nation again. It has happened in the past in the USA and the UK. There is no reason to believe that Australia cannot be rescued by God. So we pray for revival and trust the Lord to turn us around.

Prayer

Father, please send revival to this Nation. Start with me, setting me on fire for you. Amen

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

From The Daily Declaration

anti-Semitic

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

19 DECEMBER 2023

2.3 MINS

A shocking new report reveals a skyrocketing increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia following the Hamas invasion of Israel.

Death threats, graffiti, beatings and chants of “intifada” are among a record 662 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Australia in just October and November of this year, in a shocking new report from the Executive Council of Australia Jewry.

The same period last year saw 79 such events, marking a dramatic 738% rise in anti-Semitic incidents year-on-year.

In one incident, a group of 13-year-old Jewish girls in their Jewish school uniforms were pelted with food at a mall in Bondi Junction, Sydney, before having a box thrown their way decorated in swastikas.

A Jewish cyclist sporting an Israeli flag was the victim of another attack in Melbourne, when a female attacker grabbed his flag and two men pushed the victim to the ground before kicking him in the chest and back.

In a seperate incident that took place on a train in Melbourne, an assailant shouted at a Jewish man, “If I could get a hold of a machine gun I’d gun down 10,000 of you tomorrow.” He also threatened to “blow a hole through your synagogue,” and said, “Jews aren’t people, they’re pieces of sh*t”.

The ECAJ explains in the report that their figures are provisional and are likely to rise significantly as more reports come in covering the October-November period.

‘It’s a Shame for Our Country’

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the ECAJ, has warned that in response to the surge in anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, Jewish parents have begun telling their children to conceal their Jewish identities in public, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

“Parents are speaking to their children about not disclosing their Jewishness in public, about hiding Jewish attire and symbols,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“The fact that in our society, in our time, these conversations are taking place, that one segment of our community feels that unsafe and that vulnerable from other Australians, it’s a shame for our country.”

In a Sky News interview, Walt Secord, Public Affairs Director or the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), said “I’ve lived in Australia now for 36 years and I have not seen anti-Semitism — the public expression of anti-Semitism — reach these levels in my entire life. It’s extraordinary.”

Mr Secord called the attacks “absolutely unAustralian”.

“We know that it’s a small group engaging in this activity but it’s absolutely unacceptable and it’s put the Jewish community on edge,” he added.

Global Surge in Anti-Semitic Incidents

A rise in anti-Semitic incidents is not just confined to Australia but has become a global phenomenon since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7 that saw 1,200 Israelis murdered, 6,000 injured and 250 taken hostage.

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League recently reported that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have risen by 388%, the majority of which had direct links to the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile in the UK, anti-Semitic incidents have surged 514% according to data from the Community Security Trust.

The Jerusalem Post reported in late October that a joint study found a global rise in anti-Semitic attacks of 500%.

Albanese Government Calls for Ceasefire

The shocking Australian report comes as the Albanese Government effectively revokes its support for Israel by voting at the United Nations for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

It is an about-turn that has angered Israel and delighted Palestinian advocates, given Hamas’ genocidal intent for the Jewish people and desire to see the Jewish state annihilated.

The Australian Christian Lobby has launched a petition calling on the government to respond to the rise in anti-Semitism seen around the nation.