The Handmaid of The Lord

"His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever He tells you.'" - John 2:5

Growing up Catholic, I prayed to the Virgin Mary as a little girl. I always understood her to be my mother too since she was Jesus' mother, and like a good mom, she brought me closer to her son. Now that I'm older, I see her as an amazing role model for my faith. Her words are seldom mentioned in the gospels, but whenever she did speak, the words backed up her exceptional obedience and confidence in the Lord. When the angel Gabriel saluted her and told her about God's plans for her, she said in complete obedience and trust, "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said." This young woman, probably only 15 at the time, faced dishonor, bringing shame upon her family and fiancee, and death, yet her faith and humility before God was greater than everything else! Sometimes when I'm on the train and begin to pray, I get a bit embarrassed if someone sees me doing the sign of the cross… look at how far I am from her rock solid faith! And more importantly, Mary understood that all things God brings us is for our ultimate good, no matter how devastating, impossible, or burdensome they may seem to our limited human understanding. How many of us would say no to the angel because we're worried about how things are going to work out and what people will think of us? We hardly ever look beyond the inconvenience to ourselves and never accept in faith that what God asks of us or brings into our lives is actually to do something amazing for us. The Virgin Mary looked beyond herself and all the obstacles. She had tremendous faith and obedience to God at a young age, faith that literally bore fruit to the light of the word, Jesus Christ, our Savior!

Therefore, whether we're Catholic, or any other Christian denomination, let us take Mary as a role model for our faith, she who tells us as she told the servants at the wedding at Cana, "Do whatever He tells you."

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, only a woman of exceptional faith, virtue, love, and obedience could You call Your mother. Allow us to model our faith and acceptance of Your Word after hers. Help us to see that all You ask us to do is for our good. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Treat Others With Humility

"For everyone who makes much of himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be esteemed." - Luke 14:11

My old boss was the president of a big record label until he got bought out by Sony. After that, he went on to form the small company where I worked out of college. Whenever I would go to a meeting with him to pitch business he would tell me that the most humiliating thing was to have to beg his past interns and employees for business now that he was starting over. Luckily for him, he was always a fair man, but imagine if he had treated everyone badly and exploited his position as president? He would have had his fair share of enemies and bad business. The lesson here is to treat everyone with respect because they were also created with love by God. Despite race, age, gender, education, culture, or socio-economic status, God does look at each and every one of us as equals. As a matter of fact, the person that I disregard on the street probably has a much better heart than me and is therefore a much richer person than I am. At the end of the day, who we are and what we think we have is really nothing. We have no substance unless we learn to value those around us… big and small. Rich or poor.

And this lesson that Jesus gives us here doesn't only apply for the well-being of our souls, but also to help us out in life. My old boss was able to build new relationships because of his old ones. He wouldn't have been able to do this if it had burned bridges with those at the bottom of the totem pole. We always have to be humble and respectful of all others, no matter how high up we *think* we are.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the lessons You teach us through Your Word. Humble me, Lord, and help me treat others with the respect that is owed to them as Your sheep. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Humility

"And listen: He who is found to be the least among you all, he is great indeed." - Luke 9:48

This weekend in church was the celebration of Christ the King. The reading they used to describe it was of Jesus dying on the cross and getting jeered at by the Romans and the rest of the crowd. In the world's eyes, Jesus wasn't a king. A king is rich, powerful and sits upon a throne being waited on. But in reality, a king is made leader because he is supposed to serve his people. Jesus, dying on that cross was serving all of humanity, washing away the evil inside of us. By doing this for us, He was setting an example of how we need to serve one another. Many times we think we deserve so many things and wait for others to do something for us first before we do anything for them. I'm guilty of this. I forget that to God, the humblest person is really the greatest, even if he is poor. The rich mean nothing to God if they are not rich of heart and compassionate to others. This is why if we really want to be admired by people and gain respect, we need to humble ourselves and serve others, as Jesus did. My boyfriend doesn't need to tell me he loves me because he goes over and beyond anything I ask for. And I know so many people like him in my life and this is making me want to serve them better. But it's not just them because they were nice to me first, Jesus calls us to extend ourselves and perform random acts of kindness everyday, whenever we see an opportunity. This is the true indicator of the goodness and heart of a person, if we have the humility to serve others and put strangers, and the poor before ourselves.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, help break me out of my selfishness so that I could mold my life to help others. I want to do good before Your eyes Lord, and do what is pleasing to You. Help me to help the least in Your kingdom. In Jesus' Name, amen.

The Right Attitude For God

"Do not be afraid, for from that first day when you resolved to acquire understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your supplications were heard." - Daniel 10:12

I know many of you who are praying so hard and facing so many difficulties but the Lord is good and the Lord is working to answer your prayers. Do not be afraid, do not let fear or anxiety find a place in your heart because God does not want this for you. The bible, in the new and old testaments, repeat to not fear over and over again, therefore, we must trust in the fact that we will not be let down or be put to shame. The Lord is our light and our salvation, of whom should we be afraid? Now, the Lord is and will be doing His part, but while we wait, we must be sure of a few things, that we continue to seek understanding of God's ways and of His truth and that we constantly humble ourselves before Him. When we give up all of ourselves to Him, this is when He can really show His power in us and answer our prayers in a way we would have never imagined!

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, thank You for protecting and defending me against all things. Thank You for being there and answering my supplications. Grant that I may always seek You and approach You with a humble heart. In Your Name we pray, amen.

For All Have Sinned

"Because all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

When I think about this verse, I think about Jesus sitting on the ground, playing in the dirt, while telling the crowd, "He who is without sin may cast the first stone." Although it's not mentioned in the bible, historians say that He was actually writing down the sins of some of the people for them to see. The point is that some of us start to feel really righteous about how "holy" we are and this is the opposite of righteousness. In fact, the holier you become, the more humble you become. No one has the right to put anyone down because of their sins. As Saint Paul says here, ALL have sinned and ALL fall short of the glory of God. No one can say they are blameless and if they do, they only seek their own glory. The truth is that we are all very sinful and this is something we have to admit to ourselves. Just as Jesus wrote down the individual sins of the men that wanted to stone the adulterous woman, so God writes our sins in our hearts so that we should never feel boastful or righteous but every day seek to be humble and atone for our sins.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, forgive me for the times I looked not upon my own sins but those of others. In doing this, I know I was not humble and instead acted like a judge. I recognize that I am a sinner and need Your light to guide me to paths of righteousness. In Your Name we pray, amen.