Why I get out of bed...

It is not the crying children, because I have none. It is not the hungry husband, because I don't have one. It is not to fill my own stomach, because I'm rarely hungry so early in the morning. It is not the excitement of a new day at work - sitting at the computer is rarely rivetting. Sorry to say that it is not even Mass - there are evening opportunities - or the positive peer pressure of community life (usually). 

This is one of the beauties of the consecrated life. Even in (maybe especially) a secular institute, the distractions (delightful as they are) diminish. At no time is this more obvious to me, personally, than in the quiet hours of the night and the early hours of the morning. These are the moments when there is no escaping the reality that we are incomplete, unfinished, and yearning to be profoundly united to someone... and the only someone who can be that completion is God.

I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Worries and fears only compound the "problem" for others. Those who are married or settled in their life wonder why they still feel a void, an emptiness that is sensed even when children are near us and a spouse beside us. We fall into the trap of thinking that "if only" would solve everything. We forget that it has already been solved, and the Immaculata is our proof. 

She proves that a mere mortal can love Jesus. Simply. Totally. Constantly. 

She proves that heaven is real and I  can get there. 

She proves that sorrow can become strength at the foot of the cross.

She proves that a single "yes" can change the world. 

She provese she brings me to Christ and brings Christ to me.

Here, I use "getting out of bed" analogously. It could be taken literally, of course, but also figuratively. "Getting out of ourselves," going the extra mile, seeing the goodness in the monotony of life, overcoming being overwhelmed, etc..... The Immaculata is always there to remind us and to prove to us that great things are happening. With that proof, as St. Maximilian reminds us, "We can do all things." But, first, we have to get out of bed.