Misa de Gallo Day 7 Reflection: THE VOICE OF MY HEART

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by Br. Christian J. Peralta

Luke 1:46-56

Our Gospel today talks about Mary’s Magnificat. Mary sung the canticle during her visit to her cousin St. Elizabeth. We can observe that the hymn has a lot of parallelism in the Old Testament especially with the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2: 1-11. Hannah is giving glory to God for His mighty works done for her, because God granted her the request she prayed for. Samuel was the result of Hannah’s prayer. The same way with Mary, she found favor with God thus glorifying Him because He has done great things for Her. We could ponder three points on Mary’s canticle:

First, is TO BE THANKFUL TO GOD for His wonderful and mighty deeds for all men. He who loved us so much gave everything, even his only son, who will be born and will save the world. The savior has come to bring good news to all men. We have to welcome Him with a joyful heart and pronounce it to every nation. Give back to the Lord everything for everything is from Him and only in Him we find joy and peace. Usually, we welcome and praise someone because he is important and worthy of praise, thus, we have to do the same with our Lord, Jesus Christ. At this point of our preparation for the coming of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, allow ourselves to be in PRAISING mode like our Mother Mary. Let us THANK HIM for HE has done great things for us!    

Second, is TO BECOME GENEROUS. We thank and praise Him because we receive gifts and we acknowledge everything as good that comes from God. Mother Teresa would say Gratitude to God is to accept everything, even the problems, with joy. Being grateful is seeing yourself and others in love, with love and for love. We appreciate God for every good that happens to us but do we thank Him seeing a beggar approaching us asking for alms? Do we thank God when miseries come over us? It is a fact, that we only thank the Lord when we receive but we failed to thank HIM when we give. GENEROSITY allows us to feel God’s presence because we know we have a lot to share even in times of meagerness and troubles. As we await Christ, the MESSIAH, let us put our minds and hearts together like Mary when she unselfishly gave her fiat. GENEROSITY is another way of saying THANK YOU!

Third, is TO BECOME A GIFT. We are blessed because we accept God as the author of our life. Our end is God and the end is the salvation of our soul experiencing eternal happiness. When we receive Christ as our Savior our hearts are filled with joy and are contagious that we can’t stop praising Him and share Him to others. For this reason, we are not just simply sharing something but SOMEONE who is the source of true happiness who lives in us. That is why we become a gift to others. The vocation director of the Order of the Augustinian Recollects, Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno, once asked us, how was your love life in the seminary and I told him, “it’s progressing”. What I meant was, I found myself growing in a love story I created together with my God. I am learning and loving it and it brings out the best in me. I guess, with all humility, I can say I can be a gift to others, too. An authentic love for God will be the salvation of everyone. Our experience of love on earth is temporal but the love that awaits us is truly the love that will make us forever be THANKFUL, GENEROUS AND A GIFT.   The challenge to us my brothers and sisters, is to thank God by praising and glorifying Him who has done marvelous things in our life in time of difficulties. Second, remember to thank God. How? Be Generous! Simply because everything is a gift that comes from Him. Lastly, be mindful that you are not just sharing something but Christ himself who lives in you. Be a Gift. As we continue our pursuit for eternal life, we must all remember that Jesus Christ has come into the world inviting us to come and see Him in all our delight.

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