Advent Reflections – December 13, 2015

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Willing to Make Sacrifices for Others: Mary in Scripture

The thing about choices is that by choosing to walk down one path I have to necessarily reject or sacrifice whatever lay down the opposing path. When Mary was visited by Gabriel, she had two choices. By choosing her fiat, her yes to God, Mary was at that same moment saying “no” to the hopes and dreams she had envisioned for her life.

Mary was a young girl, recently betrothed to Joseph. Just as any couple just starting out, they must have had plans for the future. Maybe growing Joseph’s business, assisting their parents and other relatives, participating in upcoming pilgrimages to Jerusalem, etc. Mary’s participation in God’s creative plan meant sacrificing other dreams she (and Joseph to an extent) might have had. Her trust and obedience to God allowed her to let go of the life she dreamt she would lead. Her love for God, and by extension her love for Jesus, gave her the strength she needed for such a sacrifice. The life that God had in store was beyond her wildest imaginings.

Can you think of a time you sacrificed something out of love for another person? Did it change you in any way?

Advent Reflections – December 12, 2015

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Before starting this reflection, I would be remiss not to recognize today’s beautiful feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. May La Virgen Morena watch over us and keep us safe.

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Willing to Make Sacrifices for Others: The Reality of Motherhood

Motherhood in its physical sense is a powerful force of nature. When a woman discovers she is carrying life within her, she is filled with two competing emotions: joy and fear. She is joyful, in awe of the creation that is growing within her. And she is fearful, because she knows that the fulfillment of this growth is a painful birth.

Fortunately for the human race, the fear of childbirth is one of the first sacrifices a mother makes for her child. She sacrifices that fear in order to give her child life. Motherhood is full of such sacrifices, though not all of them on such a grand scale.

A mother sacrifices the music she would like to listen to in favor of her child’s request. She going to lunch with a friend to stay home with a sick teenager. She flies across the country to help her daughter deal with the realities of deployment, sacrificing time and events with her spouse and other children. She denies wanting the last piece of pie.

The sacrificial spirit of motherhood is a spirit of giving. Each sacrifice that a mother makes becomes a gift for the person she loves. Gifts of time, of attention, of life, even of pie.

Who do I make sacrifices for? What is one thing I can sacrifice so that someone else will benefit?

Advent Reflections – December 11, 2015

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Able to Love without Requiring Love in Return: Real Life

How do we do this in real life? How do we love someone without expecting them to love us back or at least expecting some kind of good return on our investment?

For starters, love is a choice. We are conditioned from an early age to associate love with good feelings, of warmth, hearts and red roses. When we understand love in this way, the focus is inward – it’s all about me and how I feel loved. We will never be satisfied with this kind of love.

The love that does not need anything in return is a much deeper, harder and more profound love. Rather than a love of self, this kind of love stretches beyond us and reaches to the other person. This selfless love seeks first the comfort, health, nourishment and safety of the other person, setting their needs above your own. A loving choice places someone else in the center of your focus, rather than yourself.

Think of someone who has shown you this kind of love, a love that put your own needs before their own. Reach out to them if you are able and thank them.