Daily Thoughts: As we celebrate
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception today our focus is on two things, God’s
gift to Mary and us by bringing her into the world untouched by sin and Mary's
gift to God and us in her response of "Yes" to the angel Gabriel.
We celebrate the vision, the plan of God
from the first moment of creation to touch us with the beauty, joy and
faithfulness of Mary. We celebrate a simple response of “yes” by Mary. “Yes” is
a response, word, we make and use many times in life. Sometimes our “yeses” are
simple responses to easy questions but at other times our “yeses” become
responses that change our lives forever. Mary’s “yes” changed her life and our
lives profoundly because it paved the way for Christ, the gifts of perfect
love, to come into the world.
Mary’s “yes” was not an easy
"yes" because before she could utter it she had to deal with fear.
What was God asking? What did all this mean? How could this happen? Why me? But
Gabriel asked Mary to not fear. So Mary with faith and trust in God moved
beyond her fear to God’s perfect love. Remember as St. John tells us,
"Love casts out fear!" Enlivened with God’s love Mary stepped beyond
fear and said "Yes!" And this made all the difference for her and us!
As I pause to celebrate God’s gift of
Mary to us today I am thinking back to my trip this past summer to Lourdes,
France. It was there one hundred and fifty-six years ago that Mary appeared to
a frightened teenager, Bernadette Soubirous and told her not to fear because
"I am the Immaculate Conception.”
St. Bernadette like Mary chose not to fear and thus brought healing
waters to a world in most need of healing.
If nothing else our feast today
challenges us to not live fear. It challenges us to welcome God’s gift of Mary
into our lives. Our feast challenges us to be like Mary and say “yes” to God
because when we do impossible things happen for as Gabriel reminds us “nothing
is impossible for God.”
Happy Feast of the Immaculate
Conception! Have a great day everyone and may you find peace, hope and joy
throughout your day!
Daily Prayer: Mary we prayer
your prayer today with the hope that we to will always say yes to God - My soul
magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked
on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations
will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and
holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown
strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of
humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has
sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. - Amen!
A Runner's Thoughts: “I run because
it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles.
You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and
realize you're capable of so much more than you thought.” (Arthur Blank) So to
in the spiritual life…
Daily Blessing: Happy Monday
and Blessings on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin Mary! I hope you all had a nice weekend and have begun this new work
week with a lot of energy and spirit.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
is the Patronal Feast Day of the United States so we pray through Mary today
asking for a sense of calm and peace at this difficult time in our history.
Through the gentleness and strength of Mary may we come to see each other as
the good people God has created us to be and work together for justice and
peace for all.
My prayer of blessing for all us today
is – Loving Mary, one who said yes to the giver of all good gifts, intercede for
us today so that God will bless us with hearts that love, so that by deepening
our sense of respect and reverence for you, for God we may nurture within
ourselves and others only what is good. May God bless us with a watchful care
throughout this day so that wherever we go and whatever we do it will be for,
in and through God. May God’s blessing bring us home safe to those we love that
we might celebrate the gift of family, of friendship, of community, of joy and love
so that our sleep will be restful and we will be energized to welcome you
tomorrow! Blessings upon everyone as you journey through this day! Let us live
this day in the spirit of Mary’s “yes!” Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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