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 to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28
Here, the Lord is asking us to surrender our problems into his loving care. He wants us to let go of our desire to control the people and events of our lives and trust in him. This is a difficult task for many people.
Mary’s life shows us the pathway to spiritual surrender. As the mother of our Savior, Mary lovingly let go of Jesus when it came time for him to leave her and follow his call to preach, heal, and evangelize. She also surrendered the unspeakable pain of her broken heart as she stood beneath the cross as Jesus gave his life so that we could live with him forever.
So much of what we experience every day can be lifted off of our shoulders simply by giving it to the Lord. We can follow Mary’s example and prayerfully surrender our joys and sorrows to the Lord and find rest in his loving arms.
— Dr. Barb Jarvis Pauls
WHAT BURDENS can I hand over to the Lord this day? What joys can I give to God?
Prayer: Mother Mary, help me to trust in the workings of the Lord, that I may have the strength to surrender both the problems and joys of my life into the hands of our loving God.
March 18
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” — Romans 12:1-2
Paul appealed to his fellow disciples to surrender their bodies as a living sacrifice. This models Christ’s sacrificial surrender to death on the cross. Warning believers not to conform to the age, Paul encourages us to renew our minds. Once that happens, we can discern the will of God for us.
Again, we have Mary as an example, giving her all in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to become the mother of our Lord and Savior. While God’s will for Mary seems quite straightforward to us, she needed to surrender first in order to see with a renewed mind. Mary gave God her body. Her surrender filled her with grace, the grace necessary to become the Mother of God.
— John Holmes
WHAT RENEWS YOUR MIND? How are you called to offer God your body as a “living sacrifice”?
Prayer: O Virgin Mary, thank you for your surrender and your response to your calling! Help me to be open to a change in my heart and mind.
March 19
“You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.” — John 14:28
Being separated from the people we love hurts. Separation can be experienced through death, a loved one moving far away, a conflict in a relationship with a close friend, a divorce, a loss of employment and colleagues, and more. In times like these examples, I have often sought solace in the arms of our Blessed Mother. Mary knows what we are feeling when we are separated from the ones we love. As Joseph’s wife and the mother of Jesus, Mary experienced more than her share of suffering and hardship, and she coped with these events by surrendering her life over to the Lord.
— Dr. Barb Jarvis Pauls
IDENTIFY TIMES IN YOUR LIFE when you have suffered a painful separation from someone or something you loved deeply. Prayerfully invite our mother, Mary, to share your pain and to help you find the courage to give this event over to the
