Opinion

True gift

Happy Epiphany!

This is that ancient “Twelfth Day of Christmas” (made obnoxious by that carol everybody hates), Jan. 6.

It is the day when Christians observe the visit of the “three wise men,” aka “the Magi,” or “the three kings,” led by the star, who discovered the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, there to adore him and present him gifts.

That’s why in many countries of the world, Epiphany parallels Christmas itself as an occasion of celebration and gift-giving.

With this “twelfth day of Christmas” we Christians traditionally conclude the Christmas season, and gift-giving is done.

And annually we wonder, “Has the buying and giving gotten out of hand?”

I just got back from a happy holiday visit home to St. Louis. After supper at my brother Pat’s house, and following a review of all the piles of presents Gracie, Kathleen and Patrick — my nieces and nephew — had gotten, Pat said, “Tim, come on down to the basement and see all of last year’s gifts!”

Has our consumerism trumped the simplicity so necessary for a happy life? Is “getting” now more important than “giving?”

I hope not. Surveys show that 91% of Christmas purchases are made to give to somebody else. Not bad. While we might legitimately question the quantity of our buying things to give away, the impulse to give has to be one of the more noble sentiments in the human heart.

The Bible sure teaches that. Jesus certainly did. St. Francis says, “It is in giving that we receive.”

Blessed Pope John Paul II called it “the law of the gift”; we are at our best, we are acting most in accord with what our Creator intended, when we give ourselves away to another in love.

Natural law teaches this in marriage, when a man and a woman give themselves to each other unreservedly, and a new life results, in their baby. That baby then becomes the center of their life. Their needs and desires take second place. They spend their lives sacrificing for each other and their child.

That’s what we celebrated 12 days ago: God the Father sent us His Son as a baby, the supreme Christmas gift, who came to give us salvation, life everlasting.

We imitate God, then, when we selflessly give to another. We saw it after Hurricane Sandy. We witnessed it again this now concluding Christmas season. Children in many countries smile at it this very morning as they wake up on Epiphany to find their gifts.

Remember O. Henry’s classic short story, “The Gift of the Magi?” A married couple deeply in love . . . she “gives away” her proudest possession, her gorgeous long hair, having it cut and selling it to a wig shop, so she could buy him the platinum watch chain he so wanted; and he sells his cherished pocket watch so he could get her the tortoise shell, bejeweled hair clips, known as “combs,” she had dreamed about. When it was time to exchange gifts on the Epiphany, they both realized they had each given away their most prized possessions out of love for the other. That selfless act was the best gift of all!

It’s either the “law of the gift” or the “law of the jungle.”

“Wise men” choose the first.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan is the archbishop of New York.