December 22, 2025 // Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:24-28
Reflect on the Word //
I sat down at the dinner table, ready to share a meal and the events of the day with my family. These school days are long—I rise early to pray and exercise, to fill my cup before the rest of the family wakes. Then we launch into homeschooling, sports, music, and activities. Our life is full of good things. On this night, after we said grace, everyone started eating without a word of gratitude to me for the meal that had been served to them. I was discouraged. Couldn’t they see how much I was pouring into them?
Teaching gratitude to our children and practicing it in our own lives can be hard, but there is nothing more important. Everything in our lives is a gift: the air we breathe, the work we are called to, the love we receive in our relationships with friends and family. All is gift.
Hannah from the First Reading had waited and prayed for the gift of a son. When God granted her request, she made the ultimate act of gratitude in bringing her little, newly-weaned son to the temple to give him back to God. What a heartbreaking scene. I can imagine Hannah weeping, Samuel wailing even as she did what she knew was right.
God shows us in the beauty of the liturgy how we are to respond to gifts, especially the Eucharist—we acknowledge them, express our thanks, and offer them back to the Father, even as we unite ourselves to the host and chalice as they are lifted to Heaven after the Consecration. God requires so much of us, but what we receive from Him is infinite and incalculable.
As we prepare to celebrate the mystery of the gift of God-made-flesh in the person of Jesus, let us open our eyes to every good gift, thanking the Giver. We tend to hold these gifts close—the bigger the gift, the greater our temptation to hoard. But it is only in releasing the gifts back to God that they will be used to their full potential in His Kingdom.
Relate to the Lord // Jesus, give us the faith to hold Your gifts, loosely, and with profound gratitude to offer them daily back to You.
Elizabeth Blanke Show is a remarried widow and mama to seven beautiful kiddos. She is passionate about creating community, and loves gathering people to share meals and music in her home. She also loves spending time in nature and exploring new places. You can find her on Instagram @elizaraxi.
2026 Prayer Pledge
Get Your Prayerful Planner
