Loved and Given

A Reflection on the First Reading for December 30th, 2018:
The Feast of the Holy Family

1 Samuel 1.20-22, 24-28 

In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.” Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.”

When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, a measure of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” She left him there for the Lord.

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I have a daughter and a son. Unlike Hannah, I had never asked God for children. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to do so at that time. Hannah, though, desired the opportunity to mother a child. She wanted this one thing with so strong a desire, she prayed before the high priest for God to allow it. And God provided. He answered her prayer and she bore a son. She named him Samuel, meaning, “heard of God”. Imagine her gratitude! God placed in her womb a baby boy who she co-created alongside Him for 9 months, rejoiced at his birth, fed from her breast, rocked to sleep, nurtured and loved, and then, gave away.

I love my children. I love them with a love that is unlike any other I have experienced. It’s a crazy sort of love that can evoke such intense emotion within me that I would do almost anything to keep them close and out of harm’s way.

My son is ten years old and he plays hockey. Last season, he was playing a particularly rough team and he was checked into the boards head first. As he laid there on the ice, my heart and mind went through a surge of emotion ranging from anguish, anxiety, and fear, to downright irrational fury. If there hadn’t been a crowd of observers, many rows of seats, boards, and plexiglass between us, I’m afraid I might have ‘dropped the gloves' with the nine year old kid who laid my son out.

This is the kind of love a parent has for a child — beautiful, intimate, protective, infinite, and intense. When they hurt, we hurt. When they rejoice, we rejoice. This is because they come from a most sacred and intimate place. They come from within our very selves. And we haven’t only harboured them there, they have been created as an extension of our being. Our children are a creation unto themselves, but a piece of a greater picture. And though the physical bond is broken at birth, the spiritual bond between parent and child remains. The love, though not always expressed perfectly, runs very deep.

The first and last words of Hannah in this passage are, “I have asked him of the Lord” and “he is given to the Lord.” Hannah willingly gave up her child. This creature of her own making — the answer to her lifelong prayer — she willingly set down at the feet of her Lord. And in return, our Lord did this very same thing for us. He laid before us an extension of His very self so that this living, breathing version of God Himself might collect up our lost souls and return them to whence they belong. In order to fulfill this purpose, Jesus also surrendered His life to the Lord.

"He laid before us an extension of His very self so that this living, breathing version of God Himself might collect up our lost souls and return them to whence they belong."

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In both instances, God gave the gift of life, and His humble servants surrendered this precious gift into His hands. What will you do with the gifts He gave you?

Lori MacDonald

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