MORAL STORIES

A CHRISTMAS GIFT

St. Jerome (347-420) was a Dalmatian priest, a great scholar and a Doctor of the Church. He prepared the ‘Vulgate’- the first authentic translation of the Bible into the Latin language. He was staying in a cave in Bethlehem, close to the birth-place of Jesus.

On a Christmas night, he was meditating about the birth of Jesus and wondering what gift he could give to Jesus. Suddenly, he had a vision. Baby Jesus appeared before him in the midst of a brilliant and dazzling light and asked him, “Jerome, what will you give me for my birthday?”

St. Jerome replied in ecstasy, “O Divine Infant, I give you my heart.”

“Yes, but give me something more,” Jesus requested.

“I give you all the prayers and affection of my heart”, replied the saint.

The Holy Child asked for more and more.

Finally, St. Jerome said, “I will give you all that I have and all that I am.”

Still, Jesus wanted more.

Now Jerome had no answer. So he asked, “O Divine Infant, I have nothing more. What is it that I can give you?”

Baby Jesus replied, with a smile on his lips, “Jerome, give me your sins.”

Quite perplexed, St. Jerome enquired, “What will you do with my sins, my Lord?”

“Give me your sins, so that I may pardon all of them,” replied Jesus.

Hearing this, he wept, out of joy and love for the loving Jesus.

Jesus came to this world to wash away our sins by His precious blood. “Indeed, according to the Law, everything is purified by blood, and sins are forgiven only if blood is poured out” {Hebrews 9: 22}.

Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” {John 1: 29}. The incarnation of Jesus is the deepest expression of God’s compassionate love for the sinful mankind.

Sin resembles quicksand, the bed of loose sand and mud in a marshy land which sucks down any object from its surface. A person sinking in a quicksand is dragged down into it and cannot come out of it by his own effort. Similarly, man cannot save himself from the clutches of sin. Jesus is the only person who can deliver us from the quicksand of sin.

By His sacred sacrifice on the Holy Cross at Calvary, the sacrament of salvation, He broke the power of death, sin and Satan. He bore the burden of our sins on the Cross and washed away our sins by shedding even the last drop of His Holy Blood.

“…the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from every sin” {1 John 1:7}. “For by the sacrificial death of Christ, we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven” {Ephesians 1:7}.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.

This is Story No. 144 in this site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in this site. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.