WHAT DO YOU VALUE most in life? How important is your relationship with the Lord? Are you willing to surrender your pride, your prejudices, and your possessions as you carry on your mission in the world?
Prayer: Mother Mary, pray for us to be generous and self-giving, surrendering our giftedness for the greater good of all who need us.
March 11
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, / and do not rely on your own insight.” — Proverbs 3:5
Is there a greater example of trusting in the Lord than Mary, a young girl from Nazareth? Although we are people of faith, we often feel we know what’s best for us. We pray for a certain outcome and even get upset if our prayers are not answered to our liking.
Mary’s life invites us to keep the prayer of surrender at the forefront of our hearts. Mary did not stand before the angel Gabriel and say, “I’m not sure how this is going to work.” Mary simply surrendered her free will and trusted that God would make her path straight. God put his plan of salvation into Mary’s hands, and Mary put her whole life into the hands of God.
— Lauren Nelson
CALL TO MIND a particular situation or event that you have not yet totally surrendered over to the Lord. Ask Mary to help you trust that God will make your path straight as he did hers.
Prayer: Mary, help me to surrender my life over to the Lord as you did. Be with me as I walk the path that God sets forth before me.
March 12
“When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’” — John 2:3
Mary is an inspiration for all of us, especially when we run out of wine. When life is difficult and we are depleted, we can learn from Mary’s unwavering faith in Jesus. This is not always easy, because we like to be in control. We like to tell God what to do. We bring God our prayers and petitions, but most often we also give him a suggestion about how things should work out.
At the wedding feast at Cana, Mary simply stated the problem; she didn’t tell Jesus how he should solve it. Our Blessed Mother shows us how to place our complete trust in God, to live with the reality that the Lord knows what is best and that we can — and should — trust him. This calls us to cultivate a spirit of surrender, a willingness to let go of our own agendas and place our entire lives into the hands of our God, who fashioned us from the beginning.
— Dr. Mary Amore
GIVE ONE SITUATION in your life totally over to God. What can you do to avoid taking it back again?
Prayer: Mary, help me to have your faith. Teach me to trust in the Lord every moment of every day.
March 13
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” — Luke 1:38
From a worldly perspective, surrender can seem a lot like weakness. Whenever someone is giving up, we tend to see it as a failure. But surrendering to God is a completely different experience. It is anything but weakness and failure.
We see that Mary’s visit with the angel Gabriel begins with fear and concern. But because Mary had already resolved to be the handmaid of the Lord, she surrenders to God’s will. What comes from this surrender is nothing short of miraculous.
Surrendering to God is not an act of weakness. In fact, it is one of the most courageous things we can do. The world’s message is to depend on ourselves; but God’s continual message is to fear not and trust him. When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we can fully live in God’s peace and joy. Our lives are transformed when we surrender to God.
— Suzette Horyza
THINK OF SOMETHING you once surrendered to God. What did God do with what you entrusted to him?
Prayer: Mary, teach me how to surrender the things in my life, especially those I cannot change; help me to follow in your footsteps by doing the will of God.
March 14
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; / in him my heart trusts.” — Psalms 28:7
My friend asked me to be her confirmation sponsor. We met frequently to discuss faith topics that interested her. The year of preparation went well. It concluded with a powerful retreat experience. When confirmation was two weeks away, we decided to go shopping for her dress. In between trying on dresses, she asked me, “Will God’s Spirit always be with me?”
I was beside myself. For months, we had talked endlessly about the presence of the Holy Spirit in her life. In that moment, I realized I had neglected to include Mary in our discussions. Like Mary, each one of us is asked to surrender to the Holy Spirit. I invited her to be open to the new life God was calling her to, like Mary was so long ago.
— Sharon A. Abel, PhD
BE SILENT. Close your eyes and surrender to the Spirit.
Prayer: Mary, help me surrender to the Spirit and let God’s grace flow in my mind. Show me how surrender to the Spirit can be my dawn. Lord, send a gentle breeze of graces flowing by. Stir within my mind your vision for my life. Lord, set a flame in me to light my darkened way. Gently guide my steps down pathways left unknown.
March 15
“‘My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” — John 2:4-5
As children, our mothers can seem infallible. As we mature, we grow to understand that our mothers are just people, too, who need the same love and devotion they are called to give us.
At the wedding feast at Cana, we see a pivotal reversal of roles. The giving and benevolent mother now makes a request from her Son. Jesus fulfills his mother’s request in the first miracle of his public ministry by changing water into wine. Just as Mary surrendered her will to the Lord years before, Jesus now surrenders himself to the request of his mother. All flows from mutual love and trust.
Perhaps we did not all grow up with a loving mother, or even an image of a perfect mother, but most of us can probably recall a person who was always there for us; someone who surrendered himself or herself to be there for us. In this person, we see a glimpse of our mother, Mary.
— Dr. Mary Amore
REMEMBER A PERSON who surrendered to you. Now, recall a time you surrendered to someone else.
Prayer: Mary, help soften our hearts, and guide us toward the love you shared with your Son, Jesus.
March 16
“Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” — Jeremiah 18:6
Mary is the perfect example of clay in the hands of the potter. Mary allowed God to shape and form her life into what God desired her to be. She trusted that the Lord would gently mold her to perfection.
Even as her beloved Son hung on the cross, Mary accepted whatever she encountered as another movement of the potter’s hands. She trusted that, just as the potter reveals the beauty of his creations, the beauty of her life would be revealed in God’s handiwork.
We, too, are clay in the hands of our divine potter, and we are being shaped and molded by God. In this divine process of creation we are invited to bend to God’s will as the Lord makes of us what he intends. In the end, the beauty of our lives as fashioned by the hands of our creator will be revealed, just as it was in Mary’s life.
— Lauren Nelson
HOW IS THE LORD fashioning your life? In what ways can you surrender to the creative forces of God?
Prayer: Mary, your life inspires me to be a moldable piece of clay in the hands of Our Lord. Guide me in surrendering my life to God, that I may become his divine creation.
March 17
“Come