“Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared.” -Psalm 76:11
So what are we to give Him exactly? If you are a parent, I think you know. You may have done this when your kids were little too, we buy gifts for our kids to give to the other parent. Or when they are a little bit older, we give them money to buy us gifts. It’s not because we need things, but because we are training them in the school of love and showing them the joy of giving. Well…God is a good Father and does the same with us.
But what if God wanted to do all that for you… wanted to give you everything you needed for you to love Him beyond your wildest expectation, and others in turn, but you either outright rejected His gift, or were too distracted with all the shiny things to even notice?
In the Merciful Love prep, we read St. Therese’s words.
On every side this love is unknown, rejected, those hearts upon whom you would lavish it turn to creatures, seeking happiness from them with their miserable affection; they do this instead of throwing themselves into Your arms and accepting Your infinite Love.
and to St. Faustina, Jesus said…
“I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but they do not want to accept them. You, at least, come to Me as often as possible and take these graces they do not want to accept. In this way you will console My Heart. Oh, how indifferent are souls to so much goodness, to so many proofs of love! My heart drinks only of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of souls living in the world. They have time for everything, but they have no time to come to Me for graces… The flames of mercy are burning Me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh what pain they cause me when they do not want to accept them!… I am looking for souls who would like to receive My grace.”
Those of us who have consecrated ourselves to Jesus through Mary have an obligation. We must not only utter words with our lips but must live out our consecration, by first accepting the gifts He wants to bestow on us and then gathering together with Our Blessed Mother and all of our brothers and sisters, to bring to Him the great gift of our hearts aflame with His love.
In #147b of the Blue Book
“I have accepted the gift of your love and gave wrapped it around my Heart as splendid crown which you are making for me with the priests whom you are gathering from all parts of the world. Thank you for the joy which you give me!”