The Feast Of The Visitation

Today is the feast of The Visitation. It commemorates Our Lady's visit to her cousin Elizabeth. When the angel announced to Mary her own pregnancy, he claimed that her cousin "who in her old age has conceived a son." On hearing this news Mary didn't sit back and think about her own pregnancy but immediately left in "haste" and went to help her elderly cousin.

 I often wonder if part of Mary's departure to see her cousin was to be able to confirm the experience she had just undergone. I mean it's not every day an angel comes into your home and announces news of such magnitude. Mary must have wanted some confirmation that what the angel had said was true. Possibly she also wanted to share the news of her own pregnancy with someone who had also
experienced God's miraculous power and who she knew would be able to understand that her own conception was truly extraordinary and that these two events were somehow connected.

When she arrived at Zechariah and Elizabeth's home, the moment Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the child growing within her gave a mighty leap. Now, if you have ever experienced a pregnancy you will know how a child can roll and leap inside you. I remember being very pregnant and attending a concert with my husband, the moment the band struck up the baby jumped in my womb, the poor thing was startled by the noise. It's the closest thing I can imagine to how Elizabeth felt in that moment . Now granted hers was for completely different reasons, she, being filled with the Holy Spirit had a powerful experience of the joy that accompanies being in the presence of Our Lord.

Can you envisage the merriment of these two women as they sat together recounting their exploits. To have seen the hand of God moving so powerfully in their lives must have filled them with such joy and happiness.

One of the things we can take from this feast day is Mary's humble disposition to serve. She goes to help her cousin around the house lifting the burden of daily chores from her friends shoulders. Maybe there are those around us who could do with our help, especially any pregnant mamas who might need an extra pair of hands.

Today we learn that an encounter with Mary always brings us to a deeper knowledge of Jesus. St. Jose Escriva said " if you seek Mary you will find Jesus." Let us seek after him with all our heart so that we too like Elizabeth can be filled with joy and experience the Holy Spirit working in our lives to bring that same love and joy that these two women gave to the whole world.