Today's Gospel

Don’t Miss Your Blessings

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today, we have one of those readings that we've heard many times in our lives. And so sometimes it takes a little extra effort to focus in and to allow the Spirit to guide us to that one word, that one phrase, that one idea that we can anchor our day with. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 1:39-56. In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a city of Judah. And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and Holy is his name. His mercy is on those who fear him. From generation to generation, he has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his posterity forever." And Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

What jumps out at you today? I think any time for me there is a word that is repeated and sometimes repeated over and over in a passage. It gets my attention. And the word today is blessed. Elizabeth said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Blessed is she who believed." And so there's this theme of being blessed, and we are, right? We are abundantly blessed. And sometimes we're aware of those blessings. Sometimes we're mindful. Even in the moment that God is blessing us, okay, in this moment, abundantly, even super abundantly. Sometimes we're not. Sometimes we look back and we realize, "Hmm, my mind was other places or I was focused on other things. But even though my mind was other places and even though I was focused on other things, God was still taking care of me. God was blessing me abundantly in that moment." But we don't realize that sometimes until hindsight. And so to pray for awareness, to pray for the spiritual awareness of the ways that God is blessing us when He is actually blessing us. Because there are many, many blessings in our lives. Some we're aware of, many we're oblivious to. And I think to pray that God continue to open our hearts, our minds, our souls to see, recognize, and appreciate His blessings in the moment when they're actually happening.

Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.