Again we focus our hearts and minds on a simple, young woman, who may not even have been fifty years old when her son was publicly humiliated. We look to a woman whose heart was clearly captured by a simple divine request: “Will you be the mother of the Son of God?” This was the divine plan for this young lady that was always in the mind of God.
What is there that strengthens a person who has been given extraordinary challenges throughout her entire life? Imagine the enthusiasm that must have given her the energy to raise a young child who was not ordinary child ... and she knew that reality.
Have you ever considered Mary’s life in light of a simple but powerful word: enthusiasm? A 19th century writer, Anne Louise de Stael, gives a clue that might open up a better understanding of Mary: “ ... enthusiasm signifies God in us.”
What we should gain from a consideration of Mary and enthusiasm is a further affirmation of her son’s words “with God all things are possible.” All of us have, at one time or another, met a person who is alive with a special spirit (Spirit?) that provides so much strength. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. Just think of the many instances in Mary’s life that we know about from Scripture that would have stopped an ordinary person. She was never blocked because she was always responding to the message of the angel, Gabriel. She was a woman, a mother, who knew what her vocation in life was. She was always responding to what Dr. Wayne Dyer describes as “answering the highest part of you, or the God within.”
As you reflect upon Mary today, let her enthusiasm, her drive, her passion become a new-found spark to enkindle in your own heart the gift of the Spirit that God has had in mind for you since before you were conceived and born. Let that Spirit (spirit?) grab your very being and set you on fire with a drive that will overcome any challenge, any difficulty that life may put before you. Mary kept many things in her heart. Let her spirit give you a daily vitamin to live God's plan for you in each day of your life!
What is there that strengthens a person who has been given extraordinary challenges throughout her entire life? Imagine the enthusiasm that must have given her the energy to raise a young child who was not ordinary child ... and she knew that reality.
Have you ever considered Mary’s life in light of a simple but powerful word: enthusiasm? A 19th century writer, Anne Louise de Stael, gives a clue that might open up a better understanding of Mary: “ ... enthusiasm signifies God in us.”
What we should gain from a consideration of Mary and enthusiasm is a further affirmation of her son’s words “with God all things are possible.” All of us have, at one time or another, met a person who is alive with a special spirit (Spirit?) that provides so much strength. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. Just think of the many instances in Mary’s life that we know about from Scripture that would have stopped an ordinary person. She was never blocked because she was always responding to the message of the angel, Gabriel. She was a woman, a mother, who knew what her vocation in life was. She was always responding to what Dr. Wayne Dyer describes as “answering the highest part of you, or the God within.”
As you reflect upon Mary today, let her enthusiasm, her drive, her passion become a new-found spark to enkindle in your own heart the gift of the Spirit that God has had in mind for you since before you were conceived and born. Let that Spirit (spirit?) grab your very being and set you on fire with a drive that will overcome any challenge, any difficulty that life may put before you. Mary kept many things in her heart. Let her spirit give you a daily vitamin to live God's plan for you in each day of your life!
