Emmaus - Love Walks
Sponsored
Catholic365 is sponsored by
Road to Purity
There is a quiet moment after Christmas—after the feasting, after the laughter, after the last ornament is nudged back into place—when the soul realizes something profound: not every gift has been opened.
We unwrap sweaters, books, gadgets, and sentimental tokens. We unwrap memories and traditions. But the deepest gifts—the ones God Himself places before us—often remain untouched. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen understood this with a clarity that still startles the modern heart. He knew that grace is not merely given; it must be received. And receiving requires more than hands. It requires surrender.
Grace is the one gift that arrives without ribbons, without noise, without the glitter of wrapping paper. It comes quietly, like the Christ Child Himself—hidden, humble, and easily overlooked.
Sheen often reminded his listeners that God never forces Himself upon us. He offers, invites, proposes. Grace is always extended, never imposed. And so, year after year, many of God’s most transformative gifts remain unopened:
Not merely God forgiving us, but the grace to forgive others—and ourselves.
How many hearts enter the new year carrying old wounds simply because the gift of mercy was never unwrapped?
Not emptiness, but presence.
Not withdrawal, but listening.
Silence is the wrapping paper around God’s voice, yet we often leave it untouched because noise feels safer.
Not a dramatic overhaul, but the gentle turning of the heart toward God.
Grace is always nudging us toward holiness, but we often keep this gift sealed because it asks something of us.
Not pleasure, not excitement, not distraction—joy.
The kind that remains when circumstances shift.
The kind Sheen said comes only when the heart is reunited with the piece God kept in heaven.
God never creates without intention.
Yet many enter each new year drifting, not because God has not spoken, but because the gift of mission remains unopened.
Why We Leave Grace Unopened
Sheen would say it simply:
We fear what grace will change.
Grace rearranges priorities.
Grace exposes illusions.
Grace heals wounds we’ve grown accustomed to.
Grace calls us out of comfort and into communion.
And yet—this is the paradox—grace is the only gift that actually makes us whole.
The unopened gifts of grace are not failures. They are invitations. They wait patiently, year after year, because God is patient. He does not withdraw His gifts when we ignore them. He simply waits for the moment when the heart is ready to receive.
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, Sheen’s wisdom becomes a lantern for the path ahead. Happiness, he reminds us, is not found in the gifts we chase, but in the gifts we finally open.
So perhaps the most important question for the coming year is not:
What gift has God placed before you that you have been afraid to unwrap?
What healing, what calling, what forgiveness, what joy has been waiting patiently for your yes?
The unopened gifts of grace are not reminders of what we lack.
They are promises of what God is ready to do.
And when we finally open them, we discover that grace does not simply change the year ahead—it changes us.
~ G.C. Stevenson
Fulton J. Sheen Quote Series
Catholic365 — Opening hearts to the gifts heaven still holds in reserve.
[Fulton J. Sheen resource quotes]
“Disappointments are merely markers on the road of life, saying: "Perfect happiness is not here." … Look at your heart! It tells the story of why you were made. It is not perfect in shape and contour, like a Valentine Heart. There seems to be a small piece missing out of the side of every human heart. That may be to symbolize a piece that was torn out of the Heart of Christ which embraced all humanity on the Cross. But I think the real meaning is that when God made your human heart, He found it so good and so lovable that He kept a small sample of it in heaven. He sent the rest of it into this world to enjoy His gifts, and to use them as stepping stones back to Him, but to be ever mindful that you can never love anything in this world with your whole heart because you have not a whole heart with which to love. In Order to love anyone with your whole heart, in order to be really peaceful, in order to be really wholehearted, you must go back again to God to recover the piece He has been keeping for you from all eternity!”
“Grace does not work like a penny in a slot machine. Grace will move you only when you want it to move you, and only when you let it move you.”
“God never refuses grace to those who honestly ask for it.”
Author Bio Guy C. Stevenson (penned as G.C. Stevenson) is a visionary editor, writer, and educator dedicated to restoring moral clarity and generational stewardship. Through essays, op-eds, and curated series like The Fulton J. Sheen Quote Series, he synthesizes spiritual insight, historical precedent, and civic reflection into accessible, resonant language for diverse audiences. His work bridges theology, philosophy, and cultural critique, inviting readers to pause, reflect, and engage conscience in the pursuit of renewal
