Ipse nos tibi perficiat munus æternum
May He [i.e., Christ] make of us an eternal offering to You[, Father] (Third Eucharistic Prayer)
⸁ὃ δέδωκάς μοι (John 17:24, NA28)
That which You have given Me [i.e., The disciples, to the Son by the Father]
Both phrases – the liturgical and the biblical – refer to human beings as gifts being given to God.
In both phrases, God is both the giver and the receiver of us: (1) The Son presents us to the Father by the Spirit’s power, and (2) the Father has presented us to the Son.
Sometimes we hear the disparaging assertion that someone believes he or she is “God’s gift to the world.“ The temptation to pride is so close to the human heart because this prideful declaration is so close to, yet so far from, the truth.
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