November 21 2023 (school mass) - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - I am totally yours

 Imagine, you are three years old. And one day, you ask your parents to bring you to Church because you want to speak to God. And so they do. They bring you to Church. But you ask them to wait in the back of the Church as you go to speak to God. So they do. You then walk up the long aisle. You kneel at the steps of the sanctuary here, and you tell God, “God, I know that you made me for a special purpose. Do with me whatever you want. I give my whole life to you. If you want me to be a leader, I will be a leader. If you want me to be a teacher, I will be a teacher. If you want me to go live in a cave where I will pray all day to you, I will.”

That’s a pretty amazing thing for anyone to do, wouldn’t you say? It’s even more amazing, for a three year old, to love God that much, to trust God that much, to offer themselves to God for whatever God wanted.

Well, that is precisely what we celebrate today. When she was 3 years old, the little Blessed Virgin Mary asked her parents to bring her to the Jerusalem Temple. And there, she prayerfully spoke to God, and consecrated herself to God, offering herself to God for whatever God wanted of her.

Do you trust God that much? Do you love God that much? If not, why not?

God made us in a way that we are happiest when we do what He wants. God designed us that way. He made us that way. We are hard-wired for God. Our minds work as they are supposed to. Our bodies work as they are supposed to. Our hearts work as they are supposed to, when we, like Mary consecrate ourselves to God. When we say, God, I’m yours. I am totally yours, do with me as you will. Whatever it is, I know, that is what will make me happiest. 

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”

If you don’t trust God enough to say that, ask God to help you trust Him more. Because until you do. You are missing out. 

What a beautiful story for us to consider as we go off on Thanksgiving Break. The best way we can show our thanksgiving to God for all of the good things in our life, all of your natural abilities, all of your possessions is to offer them back to God, and to say, all that I have Lord, I offer back to you, everything is yours, do with it what you will. For the glory of God and the salvation of souls.