An empty vessel of God holds more of the Holy Spirit

Prayer for the Day
Show me how to be like you, Mary. Some days I simply have no humility in my life. I don't want help and I don't trust that it will be there even if I ask. Your life and words are filled with such joy. You have the fears but have learned to trust in God. It's what I long for but never ask for.

Dear Lord, give me the grace to surrender to you. Let me trust that you are there for me. Hold me as close to you as a newborn is held by a parent. Teach me how to be humble so that with the same joy as Mary and Elizabeth, I can serve in the way you want me to.

Reflection

Each of the mysteries of the Holy Rosary offers us a wonderful opportunity to meditate upon the life of Jesus and His Blessed Mother.
May 31^st is the Feast of the Visitation, the second Joyful Mystery.   It’s a good day to recall how very quickly the presence of Jesus in the world became manifested. We see Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, showing us the perfect example of how a person filled with the body and blood of Christ will respond. She dismissed her own needs and concerns and instead quickly rushed off to be a comfort to her elderly kinswoman, Elizabeth.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1: 41-44)

My meditation on this Mystery tonight brought my thoughts to those who think the unborn child in its mother’s womb is nothing but tissue, without a soul.  The words, “the sound of your greeting reached my ears” got my attention.  A pregnant woman does not “hear” on behalf of the child.  The baby has its own ears and sense of hearing.  Think of all of those soon-to-be parents that talk or read to their babies or sing to them or play music for them while they are still in their mothers’ wombs in the hope they will excel in one of those activities!  When John the Baptist was still in Elizabeth’s womb, he heard the Mother of God’s voice and leapt with joy!  Doesn’t sound like the actions of “soul-less tissue” to me, but those of a soul filled with the Holy Spirit, just as all baptized Christians are. 

How full of the Holy Spirit are we?  It depends on us.  The Lord wants us to be vessels. In Acts 9:15 God refers to Paul as a "chosen vessel" unto Him, to bear His name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. We, too, are chosen vessels designed to be used and filled by God.

God chooses us to be His vessels, yet He will never force us to be used. Our God loves us so much that He gave us the thing called choice. We can even choose whether or not to believe in Him—the One who made us! We can choose to allow Him to use us. Once you make the decision to be used by God, then hang on because you are in for the ride of your life!  How quickly those filled with the Holy Spirit respond and know one another. What a great story the Visitation is!  What a great joy for those of us who sometimes seemingly travel alone in this world! Filled with the Holy Spirit we will never be alone, we will know and seek out those who need us and in finding them we will find God.