|
I just finished up a summer internship with the
Archdiocese of Chicago called Totus Tuus.
Totus Tuus means “Totally Yours”
and was the motto of John Paul II’s Pontificate.
He said it to Mary after his own mother had died, giving
himself totally to the Blessed Mother. The three other
people on my team and I gave ourselves to Mary in order
to bring children (age 5-18) to Christ as we taught
about the Catholic faith.
Through this experience I came to understand more fully
how Mary points me to Christ. In the
First Reading, the woman (Mary) is deserving of all honor and glory.
But when she gives birth to the son, it is he who
becomes the center of attention and the woman flees to
the desert. The more I gave myself to Mary this summer,
the more I felt her bringing me closer to Christ.
During my internship there always seemed to be the one
kid in every group I led that just didn’t listen
and annoyed me. When I would complain, my teammates,
borrowing from Mother Teresa, would just say
“Jesus in disguise.” It stopped my
complaining most of the time and reminded me to at least
try to look at the child as Mary would.
Part of my prayer life this summer included praying the
Magnificat every evening (which Mary speaks in
this week’s
Gospel). Through this prayer I grew in my understanding of
Mary’s humility and experienced a growing desire
to imitate it.
In my experiences this summer I learned that, like Mary,
I am a gifted person and I need to recognize those
gifts. It isn’t fruitful to get wrapped up in
false humility and say that I am not good at anything.
But more than just recognizing my gifts, I need to be
like Mary and recognize that those gifts do not come
from me—everything good I am and everything good I
have is from God.
Once I started seeing my gifts and talents as something
from God my spirit of gratitude increased, as well as my
confidence in God. God will not bring me to a situation
if he isn’t going to give me the graces to make it
through (once again, Mary was leading me to Christ).
It’s easy for me to write about all of these
lessons, but to actually believe and live them is
another story. There are so many times I forget to see
others as my brothers and sisters or I forget to just
trust God.
But that is why I love Mary, she will keep helping to
bring me to her Son.
|
