Open eyes make for an open heart and an open heart opens our hands to others - This is how we learn to rejoice always - So rejoice

Today at Holy Mass Our Lady proclaims her thanks to the Lord for everything he has done for her…..Mary’s life was never easy….We are told in Scripture that “you yourself a sword will pierce”……Yet - Mary gives thanks…..How about us?…..“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”………The ability to "see" all the gifts given to us is in-and-of-itself a gift…..So many people, myself included, take for granted so many things…..Our Lady understood - We must learn to understand as well - To see everything we have as a gift…..And that we must use those gifts to serve God and our neighbor……Those who grasp this idea are full of joy and those who don’t are not……Because it is in “giving that we receive”…But before we give of ourselves and of the gifts we have been given - We must we able to “see” clearly and acknowledge the “giver of all gifts”…..How easy it is to be blinded by material success….To ignore others…To be selfish…..The happiest people on the earth know how to give thanks and give….Aspire to be one of those people.

“O King of all nations and keystone of the Church; come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!”

Even if you live to be one hundred years old, we really are only “renting” while we are here on earth……Life goes by fast……Its all in how you view the time given to you….Are we building our “castle” here on earth?….Or….Are we living for heaven?……How we answer those questions determines a lot……..Every Advent Season in Kolkata India, when I would travel there to serve with Mother Teresa’s sisters there was this one older woman from Spain who would always be there as well…..For some reason this woman had a heart for the rickshaw drivers in the city…Many of these men would sleep in the rickshaw they rented to earn a living and work all day with no shoes on their feet…This volunteer from Spain would give out blankets and cloths to hundreds of them each year….One year she asked me to help…..The day before the give-out, we would travel throughout the city and give out tickets to these men…..Once people understood what the tickets were for, huge lines would form around us….The following day, the give-out took place and hundreds of rickshaw drivers would show up…This volunteer from Spain paid for all the cloths and blankets out of her own pocket…..I remember seeing a few days following the give-out one year a rickshaw driver sleeping in his rickshaw in the early morning using one of the blankets he had received….To some they may think this was a “small gesture” - But if you are cold and poor, a blanket given to you is no small gesture….....When one learns to give, we experience great joy in this life……There is something about giving that “fills us up”…….The greatest “killer of love” is selfishness…..True love gives, it does not take…And when we love God, we show him our love by how we love our neighbor….We are unable to love as we aspire too without first acknowledge God - Frankly, its impossible to love even our wife and children the way we want too, until we learn to love God….This is what the world is “missing” today….Once we “find” the one true God…And learn to love him…Then and only then will we love our neighbor as ourself….This my friends is on the “final exam” - So pay attention! - Its also the “secret” to a good and meaningful life.

“At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by; ‘I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.'” —St. Teresa of Calcutta

Today Our Lady in the Gospel gives thanks for everything God did for her….While Mary was chosen to be the mother of God, her life was far from easy - We can gloss over this reality - Yet, Mary accepted all the hardships that went along with what God asked of her to do…. How about us?……A very holy nun once told me….”Joe - Everything comes from the hand of God”…..That means even when things “don’t go our way”….God is using everything to form us, to make us holy, to sanctify us…Do we view failures and hardships in this manner?…..While no one likes to suffer, sadly, its apart of the life of every soul…But when we view the experiences of loss and hardships in life through this lens of sanctification, we can move forward in hope……The human person can not fully understand themselves until they understand that there is a God, who not only created them but loves them…..Jesus Christ gave meaning to both suffering and death……..Something every person on earth experiences…..Before we can give thanks, we need to understand who we are in relationship with the one who gave us everything we have, including our very life….“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his lowly servant”……..We can not give what we do not have - Open eyes make for an open heart and an open heart opens our hands to others - This is how we learn to rejoice always - So rejoice……..JMJ

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