Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Intention: That our spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving this week may be a sign of faith to one another and to the world of God’s saving presence in human hearts and human history.
Today’s Gospel | Luke 21: 1-4
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “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.”
From the Meditation on the Presentation of the Most Blessed Virgin | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
You have the happiness of being in God’s house, and you are bound there to his service. You must be filled with graces by the holy practice of prayer and strive to practice the virtues that are most fitting to your state. By these holy exercises, you will be able to fulfill your duties well, for you will not fulfill them as God requires of you except insofar as you are faithful to and diligent at the holy practice of prayer. By this means the Holy Spirit will come to you and will teach you, as Jesus Christ promises his holy Apostles, all the truths of religion and the maxims of Christianity that you must know and practice perfectly, because you are obliged to inspire them in others.
Prayer
Eternal Father, it is good that we know how to give. But you taught that it is not enough just to give, but that we also have to sacrifice. If we are truly to know what it means to do your will, then we must be willing to let go of our own security and to trust in your care. Help us today to understand that to serve you we cannot just give what is easy to give, but must also give deeply of ourselves. Inspire us through your Word to empty ourselves for others, especially those in need and those who have been entrusted to our care. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.