The Week 17 guide for the Online Retreat in Everyday Life is here.

It is desire that leads to choice. To understand the choices we make, and prepare to make new ones, we must understand our desires, and prepare to reform them.

More is better, right?

More food in my pantry…
More money in my savings…
More time to relax…
More stuff to make me happy…
More praise from those around me…
More knowledge in my head…
More!
More!
More!

This week, we are fighting what’s been ingrained in our way of approaching life.

More IS NOT better.

We see this in the example of Jesus: in his humble beginnings, in his hidden youth, in his simple ministry. We can walk with him this week, and ask him to teach us one small lesson. We don’t need to try to cram it all in; we’re on a journey, after all.

I find myself turning to Mary as I reflect. Her life was one big “yes.” Yes, I’ll agree to be the mother, even though it goes against the standards for a young unmarried girl to be unexpectedly pregnant. Yes, I’ll travel to Bethlehem, though it’s painful and uncomfortable. Yes, I’ll share my newborn with the humble visitors, though it’s only a stable where I’m holding the King and only simple shepherds who are bowing down. Yes, I’ll correct him and love him and struggle as a mother. Yes, I’ll mourn for my husband, and then for my Son. Yes, I’ll walk the way of the Cross and stand there as he dies. Yes, I’ll rejoice when he rises and wonder when he ascends. Yes, I’ll proclaim the Good News…the Good News that’s been in my heart since Gabriel first visited me.

When I look to Joseph, who has a special place in my heart, I find more of the same. Yes, I’ll marry Mary, even though I don’t understand how she could have gotten pregnant or why I’m the one who was chosen for this. Yes, we’ll make do with a stable. Yes, I’ll keep them safe, even if it means we flee the country. Yes, I’ll raise him as my own. Yes, I’ll love his mother. Yes, I’ll give them all of me.

That brings me back to Jesus, this friend of mine who I’m getting to know more intimately through the journey of this retreat. He was a person, just as I am. He hurt, he cried, he struggled. Maybe I can forget, for a moment, that it’s always felt like he had a secret weapon, divinity. Maybe I can appreciate, just for a moment, how human he was. And perhaps, during that moment, I will experience the grace that was meant for me this week, the grace of more in less.