Reflection for the Third Sunday of Easter

The priest at today's Mass will pray these words over the gifts of bread and wine that we offer. Receive these gifts from your Church. May the great joy you give us come to perfection in heaven.
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The prayers that are said over the bread and wine always contain a little "theological nugget," and if you want to understand what we as Catholics believe about the Eucharist, meditate and reflect on these little prayers.
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Reflecting on today's prayer, we see the basic "back and forth" of each Mass. We give God something, joined to the sacrifice of Christ; and God looking down on His Son and our offering, gives us so much more back, so much more!
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Receive these gifts... What do we give to God? We give Him our very lives. Each morning I pray: Accept O Lord, through the Immaculate Heart of your Mother, this day with all its prayers and works; joys and sufferings... We give our lives by giving God all our prayers and works -- and also all our struggles. This could be the struggle of not gossiping about a co-worker behind her back. It could be the struggle of going one day of not committing that sinful habit that we have been struggling with. It is also offering Thanksgiving to God for all the many gifts He gives us each day. So the gifts are not only bread and wine, but our very selves.
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We give these things because God originally gave them to us. We give them because these struggles have value when joined to the sacrifice of Christ. We given them because of the great promise of God - that He wants to give us a great gift of joy here on earth and perfect and complete joy in heaven. Just a little cooperation with God, and He responds with so much more.
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Since we are still celebrating Easter, this joy on earth is the fore-taste of the resurrection we will experience in heaven. So in the closing prayer, we pray: Lord... bring us to the glory of the resurrection...