Monday Motivation: What’s Your One Gift?

Monday Mood, Monday Morning, Monday Motivation, Inspiration, Faith, Mother Mary, Roman Catholic

I don’t often write about my religion and faith beliefs because I feel them so strongly in my heart that I don’t feel like I need to voice them. Those who know me understand I was raised Roman Catholic in a city called Rome, New York, to Italian grandparents. Our Italian traditions centered around the Catholic holidays, not the national ones.

When visiting Rome, Italy for the first time and walking into beautifully adorned churches, even the one my great grandparents belonged to in Aviliagno, tucked way up in the mountains of the country, Mother Mary statues were everywhere. She was lit up, with halos around her head, holding Jesus or standing alone, and votive candles and pew benches near her to ask for a prayer or two.

If you enter my house, you’ll find statues of Mother Mary on my work desk, bedroom, living room, and kitchen. During December, you’d find her in multiple manager sets. I simply adore her, and so do the Roman Catholic faithful including Pope Francis, who I also got to see in person while on my trip.

Today is the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. A time to celebrate the great joy of God’s gift to humanity in Mary and to recognize with greater clarity the truth that each human being has been created by God to fulfill a particular mission that he or she and only he or she can fulfill.

A quote on my desk reads, “What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.” I try to live every day with this thought, especially today when Mary, a simple woman, dedicated her life to giving us God’s greatest gift. My question for you today is, “What gift do you have to offer the world and are you giving and living it?”