MARY SAID, “BEHOLD, I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. MAY IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” LK 1:26-38
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading LK 1:26-38: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
In Scott Hahn’s book “Joy to the World”, he writes about angels being very present as God brings His Son into the world. The angels appear to Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, and many other Old Testament figures. They are God’s messengers, pure Spirits, highly intelligent, and God loves us so much He gave each one of us our own angel to protect us.
When is the last time you talked to your guardian angel? When is the last time you asked God for a miracle? They happen every day and God is present everywhere all of the time. We are reminded of this during Christmas. Emmanuel means “God is with us”.
Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” MT 28:20
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” MT 18:20 He is truly present when we pray together! We can also make spiritual communions and send our Spirit to Him to visit Him in front of the tabernacle or monstrance any time throughout our day/night. Most importantly, Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist.
When we go to Mass and adoration, Emmanuel “God with us”, is in the consecrated host! Take time to slow down, take a deep breath, and recognize God is with us ALL OF THE TIME as we prepare for the greatest act God has ever done for His people. He comes down as one of us and eventually is going to show us that our lives are meant to be given away!
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” JN 6:35-40
Jesus makes it very clear that He is present with us and He has the power to save us and lift us up on the last day. The key: holiness. What is holiness according to St. Louis de Montfort, deny yourself. Bishop Barron quotes, “I’m most myself not when I resist God, not when I try to become God, but when I surrender to God.”
The key: do the Will of God. How do you know if you are doing God’s Will? Bishop Barron says when we see the fruits of the Spirit in our life: joy, love, peace, modesty, chastity, self-control, kindness, goodness, patience, generosity, gentleness, and faithfulness.
Daily Examen: Did you pray today? Are you in the state of grace? Are you doing your daily tasks? Yes, then you are doing the will of the Father–Fr. Mike Schmitz
God gave us His Son to reconcile us with Him after the Fall of Adam and Eve. The statement I begin with every blog is, “Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.” Why? The center of the message of Christ coming into the world, during His life, and when He dies is to do the Will of the Father.
In the Gospel today, Mary says,”Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. Then the angel departed from her.” LK 1:38 Mary’s fiat and our fiat is how we respond to the Father who is trying to act upon us and whether we allow Him to each day with each decision.
God chose Mary to be the instrument to bring His only Son into the world. On the cross, Jesus asks us to bring Mary into our homes (lives) speaking to John. It is only right for us to ask Mary to intercede for us and bring our souls closer to her Son, so we too may enter into God’s glory.
In St. Louis de Montfort’s, “Total Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary”, he claims this consecration is the quickest way to holiness. Therefore, as we begin to humble ourselves before God, submit our will to Him like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we will begin to become holy.
The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”: “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (CCC 460).
“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God,” is a quote from St. Athanasius in his work On the Incarnation.
Allow God into your heart today and bring a little bit of the Christmas spirit into your heart. Fall to your knees and worship Him with all of the angels. Miracles will abound!
Today’s challenge: Give your heart to God by doing His Will. It requires sacrifice and patience, but sacrifice brings joy and peace. He has given us His all, it is only fitting we give our all to Him!
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)
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