Feast of the Annunciation

Photo was taken at the Shrine of Our Lady of Snows in Belleville, IL.

So, it seems that this blog is now a monthly event for me...  for right now, that's just how it is.

Today is the feast of the Annunciation.  I'm planning the prayer for the evening, so I thought I would share the reading that I've chosen, from Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, on the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

    Serving God gratis means with no conditions at all, here or there, in this or that employment, in health or sickness, consolation, uncertainty, repugnances, [in] God’s will and God’s service.  I, His little servant, need nothing else.  That is Our Lady’s spirit, and the word that came out of the depths of her Immaculate Heart at the great moment of her life was, “ecce ancilla Domini.”
    If she were now in our midst, what would she be like and what would be her “gratis service?”  Willing service of God and of others, untiring, constant and devoted. What entire absence of any claim for herself of praise, recognition, consideration.  How she would be at the service of any one without choice.  She would be happiest in the most hidden and subject work, but she would not let the love of silence and the hidden life interfere with the calls of service of others, or with personal devotedness or the real gift of self.
    “Take and receive O Lord,” means a complete gift, and Our Lord takes and receives through the hands of others, our Mothers and Sisters, and the children.
    Our Lady would say to us today: “freely you have received, freely give.”