He has filled the hungry with good things. // Luke 1:53

“This isn’t how I thought it would happen,” I whispered to Him in the monstrance. This time with Him allowed me enough pause to objectively observe the thousand subjective matters that weighed upon my heart. From this view, I could see how He was fulfilling promises and answering prayers.

But it looked different than I imagined. My ideal path involved no stress, pain, brokenness, or struggle, ignoring that my pained and broken heart exists in a stressful and struggling world. It turns out God’s way—the better way—involved pruning, purifying, detaching, and refining. That was less comfortable.

On this feast of the Assumption of Mary, we are treated to her Magnificat. These are the first words we hear from Our Lady after her fiat, when her life irrevocably changed. While Mary was full of grace, this sudden shift in trajectory was surprising. Yet Mary met this moment with magnificent praise. Mary discerned that God was fulfilling His promises in a way that perhaps looked different than what her people imagined. But she was not flustered because she hungered for the best thing: God Himself.

She didn’t crave God for His blessings or promises. She hungered for Him. She didn’t fill the “belly” of her soul with feastings of fantasy, but came to His table empty of self and ready to be filled by Him alone. The discomfort she would experience because of this way did not deter or discourage her because she knew she would be given everything she needed by the One she solely desired.

I looked up at my Beloved again, the options clarified. I could wander from Him in disappointment, feeding myself with false promises; or, I could hunger for Him alone, trusting that no matter the finite fare, when I am filled by and with Him, I lack no good thing.

Spend time in prayer today reflecting on your “hunger points.” Is there anything you’re asking from God that you’re holding more tightly than God Himself? What “good things” is He filling you with today, even if the plan looks different than what you had imagined?

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