No Reservations

Reservation: the act of keeping back, withholding, or setting apart.

We reserve lots of things. We set aside a table at our favorite restaraunt, we keep back what we really want to say to that person who's annoying us, and we withhold the best Halloween candy from our siblings so that we can get our favorite pieces of chocolate. But how often do we reserve pieces of our own heart, trying to hide ourselves from Him?

These past few weeks have been kind of tough for me. I've been working on finding the strength of heart necessary to love out my faith where I'm at in my life. Because of various conflicts in the forms of conference-like weekends, and various conflicts within myself, tonight was the first time I'd been to mass in 3 weeks. Now a year ago, that would have sounded like nothing to me. But as I continue to delve deeper into this beautiful faith, I found myself yearning for that contact. I found myself striving for the grace and the peace that I'm beginning to find in the mass. Tonight, as I came out of that beautiful prayer, my soul was filled with grace and my head was filled with this thought:

He gives Himself to us wholly; with no reservations, only love.

Christ gave Himself in the form of His body when He died on the cross for us. But His Love doesn't stop there. He gives His entire self to each one of us. Every second of every day, we are being showered upon by The Spirit because He gives. We have been blessed with the sacraments, and the wonderful opportunities they provide for us to grow in our faith. We are even able to consume His body and blood in the Eucharist, becoming physically one with Our Lord.

He gives us His entire being. Whether it be in the obvious form of the Eucharist, or in a much-needed conversation with a good friend, we continually recieve the graces provided for us. But what do we provide in return? We are not worthy of the gifts we've been given, nor will we ever be. But that shouldn't stop us from giving back. We don't really deserve to get gifts on our birthday, but we receive them anyways, don't we? And in return, we at least say a simple "Thank you," right? Say a simple thank you to Our Lord. Give of yourself in everything you do, no matter the size. Pray, fast, walk, run, talk, think, and act FOR HIM. In giving of ourselves, we can't help but be completely filled by the fullness of His grace.

"For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." ~Romans 11:33

Give with no reservations.

May you find joy in giving, and may Momma Mary hold you forever in her arms. Peace!