I spent most of my life knowing a lot about God, went to 13 years of Catholic
school, attended mass regularly and grew-up in a faith-filled family. I knew a
lot about God, but I did not truly know God. It took my being essentially
forced to turn my life over to Christ completely before I really began to live for
the first time, allowing the fullness of His grace to shower down upon me, in
the way that He had wanted it to for so long.
Now, when I am feeling “out-of-balance”, I ask myself, what am I spending
most of my day doing and thinking about? My children, my spouse, my job,
my bank account, my parents, my dinner, football, girl scouts, my bills, food,
facebook….. all of those things, though good, are not God and they can keep
us from the one true God if we do not put Him first. It is my experience that
when I put Him first and turn every action, thought and emotion over to Him,
everything else falls into place the way that it should.
Prayer
Today, Nov. 5
th
, is the feast day of St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist.
Elizabeth means
"worshiper of God" in Hebrew, which seems especially appropriate in light of
this gospel.
Her lovely greeting to her cousin Mary, can have such profound resonance in
our own lives because Blessed Mother always, always, always leads us to her
son, Jesus Christ.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you!
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
O my God, help me to accept your enfolding love.
Amen.
_______
Mary Schimmoller
Volunteer Coordinator, Holy Family Church