The answers left me comforted, and thinking in new directions. The obvious reason for requesting the interview was to solicit inspiration in the midst of the hectic shopping season that characterizes the holiday for many. But I was to be disappointed if I expected the cardinal to reject the commercialism of the holiday. Finances are something else. They're reconciled in us.
Financial concerns are certainly legitimate.
It's body and soul together. I pressed further. I think the way to rescue this idea of transactions at the end of the year is what we call the Christmas spirit. At least in its religious context, Christmas is a celebration of a great gift from God, the gift of a savior. And because we received that gift, we have to be generous in kind, and so we start to give.