Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
Scripture:
1 Samuel 1:24-28
Luke 1:46-56
Reflection:
"My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior."
1 Samuel 2:1
At daily mass, we have recently read about Mary’s visitation from the angel, her "Yes" to God, and today her beautiful prayer, the magnificat, after being welcomed by her cousin Elizabeth.
I believe we all have, or need to have, a moment where we too say "Yes" to God and surrender our own lives as well. As Catholics, many, if not most of us, were baptized as infants, but I think we need to confirm our parents’ decision when we get older. We need to make our faith our own; embracing all that the church teaches and offers us. Some do that at Confirmation, some later. My hope is that we all realize at some point in our lives that we are invited into a personal relationship with the Lord who saves us.
As we begin our journey of walking with the Lord, by the leading and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, each of us is called as Mary was, to bring Jesus to the world. Obviously, there are many ways to do this, and each of us has been given the gifts that will help us to do our part.
A friend of mine recently shared that she has made herself available to the Lord to share His love with those who don’t know Him. She will be shopping for example, and the Lord will point out a person to her. He will give her a word of wisdom about that person, and then she will strike up a conversation with them and tell them what He asked her to say to them. Each time, the person has been hungry for God and she has been able to pray with them inviting them to receive God’s great love.
You may be called to minister to the elderly in your parish. Maybe you can share God’s love with a neighbor. If you are raising children, surely your call is to help them grow in their faith by living yours well. God needs each one of us to help bring His light to our darkened world. May we say "Yes" every day and then be open to His leading.
Janice Carleton and her husband Jim live in Portland, OR and partner with Passionist Fr. Cedric Pisegna in Fr. Cedric Ministries. Janice also leads women’s retreats. She is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 6. Visit Janice’s website at http://www.jcarleton.com/ or email her at [email protected]