It is difficult to give up something that we really like.
It may be a project that we have interest and conviction about but our superiors may not share our passion in it.
Or it may be a valuable possession like our cozy home that we have to sell because of a financial situation.
But it would be really difficult when that giving up becomes a sacrifice.
In the 1st reading, Hannah offered her son Samuel to the service of the Lord.
It was truly a sacrifice of love, as she said to Eli: Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of his life.
And with that she left him for the Lord, because she believed that the Lord had better plans for Samuel.
In that sense, Hannah’s sacrifice was for the good of Samuel and for her own good too, and she believed that it was the best thing she had done.
For Mary in the gospel, her offering of herself to the Lord to be at His service was also the best thing that she believed she had done with her life.
And hence she was able to say: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour, because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.
So whenever we are called to give up something that we treasure, or even something that we love, may we also know that it is the best thing for us because it is to God that we are offering it to.
And God will reward us with blessings that are way beyond what we have offered to Him.
After all, God gave us His only Son. What is it that we cannot offer in sacrifice to Him?
And when we offer it to God with love, then we can be assured that we will receive God’s love beyond what we can ever imagine.