Hey there,
I went on a road trip over the July 4th holiday. On Sunday I found myself in a beautiful Catholic church in a small Texas town.
My husband and I were not the only visitors that day. The presiding priest was Reverend Greg Gerhart, Vocations Director at the Diocese of Austin, and 12 of his first year seminarians.
Father Gerhart’s homily really spoke to me. It was about the Law of the Gift.
I was unfamiliar with this phrase. It’s about living a life where we give more than we receive. And through our sacrifices, we actually gain so much more. Father Gerhart explained that it’s the opposite of what our culture teaches us, which is to live by the “law of get” … that life is all about how much stuff we can accumulate.
Father Gerhart, his 12 Seminarians … and all those called to Religious life … are living the Law of the Gift. But we’re all called to a life of sacrifice for others.
Someone else living the Law of the Gift is Tim Ballard. He’s a former Homeland Security Agent who gave up his career and risked his life to go on a mission to rescue a kidnapped child in Colombia. He ended up rescuing a lot of children from human traffickers.
If this story sounds familiar, it should. The blockbuster movie, Sound of Freedom … which was the highest grossing movie over July 4th (even beating out the new Indiana Jones movie) … is based on Tim Ballard’s life.
In the movie, Tim Ballard is played by Jim Caviezel, who you may remember played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Jim Caviezel is another person who lives the Law of the Gift. He’s risked his career by first playing Jesus Christ and more recently by speaking out publicly against child trafficking.
The Hollywood movie industry and now the media have been doing their best to prevent us from seeing the Sound of Freedom since it was made 5 years ago. But fortunately, they failed.
More than 4 million tickets have been sold to Sound of Freedom. I saw the movie last weekend. It was great! Check out the movie trailer.
You can buy tickets to see Sound of Freedom here. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to do so. It’s an excellent film that is very powerful. And it’s an important global problem we all need to know about. An issue we all need to work against. Because as Tim Ballard and Jim Caviezel say, “Our children are not for sale.” Buy tickets … tell your friends.
And let’s all join Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel, and Father Gerhart who heard God’s call to sacrifice for others and live the Law of the Gift. As you’ll learn in this week’s resources below, it doesn’t necessarily require us to become a Priest … or to quit our job and risk our life or livelihood. But it does ask us to focus more on how we can love others and put their needs ahead of our own. And God will give us so much more in return.
Keep Believing-
Katy Barrilleaux
Founding Editor, Genuflect
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Law of The Gift
Father Raymond Suriani explains the Law of the Gift in this reprint of his homily. And he explains how even the oldest or sickest among us can still live the law of the Gift.
John Paul II: “Man Cannot Fully Find Himself, Except Through A Sincere Gift Of Himself.” | Father Ray’s Other Corner
Gaudium et Spes
The Law of the Gift was first mentioned in Pope Paul VI’s Gaudium et Spes, published in 1965. Here is the full text. You’ll find the specific reference in Chapter 2 The Community of Mankind, number 24.
Gaudium et spes | Holy See
JPII’s Law of The Gift
In this sermon, Reverend Christopher Mahar explains how Saint Pope John Paul II lived out the Law of the Gift throughout his life, but especially in his role as our Pope.
Living Sacrifice: The Law of the Gift | Father Mahar’s Blog
Give Till it Hurts
Father Jerome Magat reminds us that it’s not so much the value of what we give, but what the gift means to us. We are called to sacrificial giving.
Give ’Til It Hurts | Catholic Exchange
Become a Warrior For God
This impassioned speech by Jim Caviezel was first published here in 2019. It’s been one of the more popular pages on Genuflect ever since. Give it a watch and you’ll see why.
Jim Caviezel: Take up Your Cross And Become a Warrior For God | Genuflect
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