Daily reflection _ what can you give?

WHAT CAN YOU GIVE?
Yearning and deprivation lead to glory; thirst leads to a banquet; sacrifice to renewal; denial and the cross to kindness which "is a greater good than life."  
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
I want to start with a couple questions for us to ponder on: Do you think someone is crazy for loving until death? The drama and passion of a life lived in relationship with God includes "until death." Jesus Christ is able and willing. Are you and I? Vincent Van Gogh wrote, "Being friends... love, these open the prison by supreme power, by some magic force. Where sympathy is renewed, life is restored."
I want to share a short story I read from a commentary for this Sunday titled "Holy Sacrifices." It is a "powerhouse" for us to reflect upon!
Reconstructing a school is a big job anywhere. It's especially difficult when that school is located in war-torn Mozambique and needs just about everything: money, desks and equipment, among other essentials. Running the school has its own problems: electrical blackouts, insects, uncertainties, problems with students. But it is a challenge Chris Sweeney, S.C. and four other Sacred Heart Brothers take up every day. Brother Chris almost always begins the day with a tractor ride from the residence area to the school's farm. He said, "No matter how I'm feeling, often tired, sometimes frustrated, the smiles of the kids along this road bring a smile to my face and heart. I have driven down this road now hundreds of times, and each time the kids come running, sometimes dancing and singing to see the tractor roll down the path. It's just an awesome feeling."
Today some 1,000 students take classes, and when the school day ends they learn pig farming, corn cultivation and carpentry, gaining experience to help them find work after graduation. The crosses the brothers, staff and students bear have carried them through hardships to new life.
In today's Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "My soul is thirsting for You, O Lord my God" (Ps 63:2b). Yearning and deprivation lead to glory; thirst leads to a banquet; sacrifice to renewal; denial and the cross to kindness which "is a greater good than life." What can one give in exchange for his or her life?