My husband is a doer and he is always putting others and their needs ahead of his... especially when it is our kids! So I am starting to see that there will be family times that are really different and out of my comfort zone... rather than the traditional family gathering for Thanksgiving on the farm... we are heading with a huge UHaul van to Texas with all of Maria and Joseph's possessions. I must say that so far it has been OK with lots of good help loading it yesterday afternoon, and that Pat loves to see the country and there will be plenty of that on our trip from the top of our country to the botton over 2 days! He is also very good at conversation, so the radio and books on tape are not really a necessity either. We will get time to pray as long as the day is light enough, and then we will have those wonderful days with our pregnant daughter and grandkids! Today we are reminded of the importance of our families and being there for them in deed and in prayer... it is the feastday of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a child in the temple..."The story of the Presentation of Mary in the temple as a child captures the essential Gospel portraite of Mary as a woman entirely dedicated not merely to doing but to living the will of God. Her own willing obedience, unhesitatingly given and never revoked, lies at the heart of her life of self-sacrifice offered in love."
Psalm 40
"How many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders and designs
that you have worked for us;
you have no equal.
Should I proclaim and speak them all,
they are more than I can tell!
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead I am here.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
In the depth of my heart.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
I have not hidden your justice in my heart
but declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
O Lord, you will not withhold
your compassion from me.
Your merciful love and your truth
will always guard me."
Sharing a family meal after the work... thank you Lord! The Gospel for today - Luke 21: 1-4 reminds me of Hallel's community and how they ask the poor to welcome them as Christ knocking on their door... the words of Christ after she has put her two small coins in the offering..."I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood." Jesus, I love it when you speak to us! I love it to realize that we can and should give our all to you, and to walk away from the lure of the material in our lives. The difference of the two Wallmart bags that Maria took with her when she entered the Poor Clare Monastery compared to the huge truckload we loaded yesterday... we laughed at the difference! We all agreed that we will move Hallel next with her small amount of possessions... she can carry it herself in her hands! There is something to say about having no ties to the "things" of this world... that much more we can give to HIM!
Jesus, we thank you for family and the many ways we are called to care for one another. May this Thanksgiving be a special time for families to gather in thankfullness for all that they have shared in the next year and look forward to in the next, but also that the day of sharing food together and the joys found in sharing and giving will heal and mend. May the poor have warmth and food and fellowship. Be with all those traveling for safety especially our little family on their way. We love you and honor your amazing Mother of Heaven and Earth on this her feastday! She brought LIFE and LOVE into the world for the family to become whole and complete in HIM. Our Mother come into the heart of families and minister to their many needs with your Son, Jesus our King! Jesus, we trust in you! Amen and Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb"The celebration of the Presentation of Mary reminds us how much our life resembles that of the people on Noah's ark. Alone and adrift, we ache for some sure sign that God has not forgotten us, that there is more to life than empty horizons, that God's mercy is greater than his wrath, that divine providence will show itself in a concrete sign when we need it most. What exultation must have errupted on the ark the moment that the little dove flew back to its deck with an olive branch in its beak! Even more, what would the people on the ark have done without this dove?
The feast of the Presentation of Mary gives us the assurance that God has confided to us someone we can rely on who will convey to us the promise of the Lord's saving love. We send forth this Dove, and she returns bearing in her womb one who carries not the olive leaf but the tree of the cross. This is why Blessed John Paul II declares that "the whole of the universe is... touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary."
Fr Peter John Cameron an excerpt from the book Mysteries of the Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady's Graces
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