Encouragement

I Have You Always Before My Smiling Face

by Maria Franco
08/01/19
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There is a great difference between Committing ourselves to God and Consecrating ourselves to God.
We may commit ourselves to God through various means by attending Mass regularly, taking active part in the Liturgy, observing the Commandments and Sacraments of the Church and enrolling ourselves in various Church Support Groups by offering our punctual and dedicated services to God.
We might think that in doing all this for God, we are consecrated to Him through our Commitment.

But Consecration to God is something altogether different, awesome and soul blowing! Because to be Consecrated to Him means to belong Totally to Him by surrendering our entire selves into His Hands and Heart to do with us according to His will, to allow Him to plan the Itinerary of our Life and allow Him to work in us and through us to manifest His Glory to the world.

When we are Consecrated to God, we are in Him and He is in us, we become inseparable. Our entire time revolves around the beauty of His love for us and in our reciprocative Praise, Love and thanksgiving to Him. To work fully on the absolute, ‘Yes’ that we have pledged to Him.
Mary was consecrated to God by her parents. Samuel the Prophet was consecrated to God in the Temple. His Mother Hannah prayed for years to bear a child and promised to consecrate her first born to God.
In only committing ourselves, we give God what is left of our Time after we have completed the worldly matters or the allotted time that we give for Church activities as per our daily schedule.

When we Consecrate ourselves however, then we are fully committed.
It does not mean that we give up all our earthly work. It means that we allow God to work through our daily work to reach out to the world and give them a taste of His love and bring others to Christ.
It means that even when we are doing our normal chores, we are thinking of God, marvelling at His love and creation and putting Him first in life so that from Him, all other thinks will flow and follow.
Once we surrender totally, He will give us the finest from the Table that He has spread. A Table filled with exclusive blessings and heaven filled moments which we in turn enjoy with our loved ones on Earth.

The faster we quicken our desire to be with Him fully, the sooner will we taste this sumptuous grace and love. To be with Him, we have to first seek Him and Find  Him.
As St. Anslem wrote ,“Let me seek you in desiring you. Let me desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you, Let me Love you in finding you.”

Mother Teresa once remarked; ‘Let every action of mine be a beautiful thing in the eyes of God.”
If this is our purpose in life, then every action of Love, Compassion, Service and Out Reach will please God to the extreme where we can actually visualize His Smiling Face upon us.

When God’s presence settled upon the Tent of Meeting where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, the Aura of God’s Glory was so shining and Bright in the Cloud that covered the Tent during the day and the Pillar of Fire at Night.
God’s presence was always dazzling and flashing, in keeping with His Intense Love for His people.
This Aura splashed on to the Face of Moses whenever He went into the presence of God in the Tent.
We should also yearn and long to have this Radiance on our Face not only when we come in the presence of God in Church but also because we carry His living presence in our hearts. At all times, we should be smiling and radiant, happy that we are in a state of heavenly bliss on earth itself.

I came across a very strong statement that read; “When you are holding on to a thread in life, make sure that the thread is the Hem of His Garment.”
What a beautiful statement!
That’s all we need to hold on to in life. If we touch just the hem of his garment, we will find healing, joy and fulfilment in Life.
If we keep the Lord before our Gaze at all times, we can be fully assured that we are always before His Smiling Face. For nothing will give Him greater joy than our being with Him always.

At Fatima in Portugal, when Our Lady appeared to the three little children, they were awed by Her Smiling and Sweet appearance.
Every time we recite the Rosary, we are in fact Saluting Jesus in her womb. We Hail Mary who is full of Grace. She is full of grace because Jesus is in her womb by the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Similarly, when we pray the Holy Mary, we ask for her intercession in our final hour to pray for us to Jesus as God has granted special privileges to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
Our Lady too has us always before her smiling face whenever we turn to Her in Prayer and remember Her Son Jesus. When we consecrate ourselves to Her as well, as her tender child.

If we look at the world all around, the people in our environment and those who dwell in our hearts, we can see how a smile can turn any scenario around in our favour.
In our true and deep love for our loved one, we have them always before our smiling face, smiling heart and smiling soul.
Our mind has to only think of them and they are in front of our smiling eyes.
Their voice echoes into our smiling voice. Our hearts smile the broadest in the presence of one another. Our souls can laugh in joy.
This is the power of a smiling love!

May we never hesitate to not just be in close proximity with God but also draw those who are closest to us in a close inner circle with the Trinity where only smiles and smiles will abound to be caught by Him and reserved for us in Heaven.
For Heaven waits to cash in on our smiles so that God and his Angels too can rejoice above in Smiling Glory! 

Maria Franco