Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Thăm Viếng (31/5) Luke 1:39-56,
Ngày hôm nay chúng ta mừng lễ Đức Mẹ Thăm Viếng bà thánh Esave (Elizabeth), chúng ta vui mừng trong sự hy vọng. Nếu không có niềm hy vọng, chắc chắn chúng ta không thể tìm thấy bất cứ điều gì mà có thể hấp dẫn trên thế giới. Chúng ta cần hy vọng. Chỉ cần nhìn vào thế giới, không phải chỉ ở trong nước ta, mà trong tất cả các nước trên thế giới. Những cửa hàng buôn rộng lớn của hận thù, ích kỷ và hoài nghi đang thúc đẩy và đưa tới những tội ác vô nhân đạo nhất và làm ảnh hướng đến cảm xúc của chúng ta. Sự tàn bạo, những đam mê sắc dục như thú vật được tự do thoả mãn đã phác hoạ một cách sinh động trong các ấn phẩm và phim ảnh hiển thị một thế giới không có hy vọng.
Thế giới mà Đức Mẹ đã được sinh ra chắc chắn là vô vọng hơn, bởi vì Chúa Con Ngôi Hai chưa nhập thể, Chúa Kitô vẫn chưa được hình thành trong trong thế giứi tạo vật của chúng ta. Đức Kitô vẫn chưa trở thành một phần của nhân loại chúng ta. Sau khi Đức Maria nói "xin VÂNG" với Thiên Chúa, và cô đã thực sự mang chính Con của Thiên Chúa trong lòng mình, một con người hoàn toàn là con người và cũng hoàn toàn là Thiên Chúa, Ngài sẽ làm cho mọi người biết đến Thiên Chúa trong thế giới của chúng ta và đem tình yêu của Chúa Cha đến với chúng ta, qua việc Ngài thực hiện lời hứa cứu chuộc của Ngài và mang niềm hy vọng cụa ngài đến với nhân loại.
Đức Maria mang trong lòng cô tình yêu của Thiên Chúa, và cuộc thăm viếng bà Elizabeth, đã làm đứa trẻ trong bụng bà Elizabeth đã nhẩy mừng và chúc mừng cô. Đây là biểu tượng của niềm hy vọng của chúng ta, đó là sự cam kết mà chúng ta hy vọng sẽ được thành tụ, đó là lời hứa mà con người chúng ta, có thể phát triển trong sự trưởng thành cần thiết để đạt được sự cứu rỗi.
REFLECTION
Today's feast, the Visitation, is a celebration of hope. Without hope, is there anything in the world that we might possibly find attractive? We need hope. Just look about the world, not only in our country, but throughout the entire world. Immense stores of hatred, selfishness and cynicism that motivate the most inhuman crimes assault our senses. The brutality, the animal passions let loose are portrayed vividly in print and picture and show a world without hope. The world our Lady was born into was undoubtedly more hopeless, for Christ was not yet conceived in it. Christ had not yet become a part of our humanity. Then our Lady said "yes" to God, and the child she bore was indeed God's own Son. As fully human as he was divine, he would make known in our world his father’s love for us, his promise of redemption and the hope that this promise bears. Our Lady carrying within her womb the Love of God, and journeying to Elizabeth, the child in her womb blessing and quickening the child Elizabeth carried: this is the symbol of our hope, it is the pledge that our hope will be fulfilled, it is the promise that we, the human race, can grow to the maturity needed to attain salvation.
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, May 31
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:39–42
The beautiful feast we celebrate today depicts two miraculous pregnancies. One came about by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. The other was the miraculous conception in the womb of a woman who was advanced in years. The Scripture passage quoted above presents us with the initial encounter of Mary and Elizabeth as they greeted each other upon Mary’s arrival. Mary had traveled a long distance to be with her cousin for the last few months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. And upon greeting Elizabeth, another miraculous event occurred. The baby in the womb of Elizabeth, Saint John the Baptist, “leaped for joy.” Thus, even prior to his birth, John began to fulfill his unique mission of preparing the way for the Lord. He did so at that moment by inspiring his own mother, Elizabeth, with a knowledge of the divine presence of the Savior within the womb of Mary.
Consider, especially, the conversations that these two holy women would have shared during their months together. Though we are given only a small insight into their initial conversation from the Scriptures, we can be certain that this was but a small sampling of what they would have discussed in much prayerful detail. In particular, their conversations would have contained a mutual sharing of the spiritual gift of joy.
Joy is much more than an emotion. It is spiritual in nature. It is not only an experience of something fun, it’s the experience of realizing the action of God in your life. Seeing God at work in wonderful ways leads to gratitude and rejoicing. This joy produces a strength and energy that is contagious and uplifting.
We must all strive to see the hand of God at work in our own lives so that our focus upon His divine actions will produce joy also. We need joy. We need to be strengthened by this gift so that we will be encouraged and strengthened as we daily strive to fulfill His will.
Reflect, today, upon the witness of joy that these two holy women give us. Know that you are called to share in the same joy as you humbly turn your attention to the ways in which God has blessed you. If you find that you lack joy in life, then consider where you allow your mind to wander throughout the day. Do you dwell on the past, on hurts, on problems and the like? If so, these thoughts will undoubtedly lead to depression and possibly even despair. Try to turn your mind to the action of God in your life. See the many blessings you have been given and savor those divine actions. Doing so will lead you to rejoice with Saint Elizabeth and our Blessed Mother.
My holy infant Jesus, as You dwelt in the sacred womb of Your own dear mother, Your presence caused much rejoicing in her heart and in the hearts of Elizabeth and John. Help me to see Your presence in our world and in my life, so that I, too, will be filled with the joy of You constantly coming to me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you wonderfully prepared Mary to be the mother of your Son. You preserved her from sin and she collaborated fully with your plan of salvation. Help me to see my role in your plan and collaborate with your grace as I serve others today.
1. Mary, the Daughter of Zion: Today’s First Reading, taken from the prophet Zephaniah, anticipates many of the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. Zephaniah tells the people of Israel – also called “Daughter Zion” – to rejoice, for the Lord, the king, dwells among them. Likewise, the Angel tells Mary, the daughter of Zion, to rejoice for the Lord is with her. The cause for rejoicing is that God has turned away our enemy and the day of our salvation is near. God is a mighty savior who protects us, dwells among us, rejoices over us, and renews us in his love. Zephaniah foresees the day when both God and humanity will sing joyfully of each other. On the one hand, Christ offers perfect praise and thanksgiving to God and we share in that song. On the other, God rejoices that we welcome his salvation through his only Son, who by his passion, death, and resurrection establishes the New Covenant and truly renews us, giving us a new heart and breathing within us a new spirit. The divine and human song of praise is celebrated here on earth in the liturgy, which shares in the heavenly liturgy.
May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Feast
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” ~Luke 1:39–45
Toward the end of the fourteenth century, the Church suffered from an internal conflict known as the Western Schism. In 1378, two men claimed to be the pope. Pope Urban VI resided in Rome, and the anti-pope Clement VII resided in Avignon, France. This division raged on until 1417 when the Council in Pisa resolved the issue once and for all. Pope Urban VI instituted today’s feast, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1389 as a way of asking the universal Church to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for unity and peace.
Though the immediate reason for the institution of this feast was internal Church conflict, its inspiration is the glorious story that Saint Luke recounts in the first chapter of his Gospel. After the Annunciation, God became man. Divinity united to humanity within the womb of the Blessed Mother. Most likely, Mary traveled to be with Elizabeth, her cousin, within a month of conceiving the Savior of the World. Thus, she traveled as a tabernacle of the Most High. Note that Luke tells us that she traveled “in haste.” On a spiritual level, we can see within this line a twofold action. First, though the Savior was but a tiny child within Mary’s womb, He was also God. Though He lacked the use of human reason at that time, He had divine knowledge. Thus, within His divinity, God the Son desired that His virginal mother not only go to Elizabeth to assist her in her pregnancy, but that she also go to her because the Son of God desired to sanctify John the Baptist within his mother’s womb. The first thing we see, therefore, in this journey “in haste” is the revelation of the Son of God’s desire to pour forth His sanctifying grace upon His precursor, John, within the womb. It was Jesus, within the womb, Who inspired His mother to make the journey so as to fulfill His divine will.
The “haste” also affected our Blessed Mother. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and carried the Eternal God within her womb. Therefore, her motherly heart would have sensed the longing of the will of her Divine Son within her womb to bestow His first gift of sanctifying grace upon John. As a result, she was compelled to travel quickly to Elizabeth so that her Son could fulfill His will.
When Mary reached Elizabeth, Elizabeth cried out, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She went on to call Mary “the mother of my Lord” and to reveal that at the moment Mary greeted her, something amazing and spiritual took place within the child in her womb. John leapt for joy. Spiritual joy is a reaction to grace, and John encountered grace in that moment. Saint Thomas Aquinas holds the position that John the Baptist was delivered from Original Sin at that moment. In fact, he goes so far as to speculate that divine grace may have accelerated his use of human reason within the womb: “Perhaps also in this child the use of reason and will was so far accelerated that while yet in his mother’s womb he was able to acknowledge, believe, and consent, whereas in other children we have to wait for these things till they grow older: this again I count as a miraculous result of the divine power” (Summa Theologica 3.27.6).
In addition to the Visitation being a revelation to us about Saint John the Baptist and the Son of God’s desire to sanctify him in the womb, it also reveals much to us about the Blessed Mother. Immediately after her exchange with Elizabeth, Mary sings her Magnificat, in which she not only glorifies God for His greatness and perfect plan, but also reveals the beauty of her own soul. The Blessed Mother speaks of her “lowliness” (humility) and the fact that “all ages” will call her blessed. She reveals that God has done “great things” for her because she had the gift of holy fear of the Lord. She goes on to reveal that in her lowly state, God will exalt her, as He will exalt all who humble themselves before Him.
As we celebrate this glorious feast, ponder first the great need the Church has for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the Mediatrix of Grace, as Vatican II called her. She is the instrument through which grace entered the world in the Person of her Son. Just as Pope Urban VI saw a need to heal the Church through Mary’s intercession in the fourteenth century, so the Church is also in great need of healing today. Call upon her intercession for the Church as we honor her Visitation today.
Ponder, also, the expediency with which Mary traveled to Elizabeth to introduce her cousin and the child in her womb to the Savior. Too often, we take a lackadaisical approach to evangelization. We hesitate, remain uncertain and uncommitted, and lack zeal. Reflect upon the holy drive within Mary’s heart as she traveled to Elizabeth, and seek to imitate that same drive in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to not only inspire you to share the love of Christ with others, but to also fill you with a sense of holy urgency. God’s Heart burns with a desire to be known, loved, and adored by His people. He wants to use you, as He did Mary, to become the instrument by which this happens in the hearts of those to whom God is sending you.
Most glorious Virgin Mary, you were filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of the Annunciation and carried the Eternal Son of the Father within you. As you journeyed to visit Elizabeth, you did so with a holy urgency and drive, enabling you to fulfill the will of Your Son. Please pray for me, that I may be filled with that same urgency to become holy and to spread that holiness to others. Mother Mary, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2023
Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I long to know and love you better. I desire to contemplate your Scriptures with the eyes of faith. On this last day of May, open my mind and heart to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, that I may rejoice with Mary in contemplating your goodness to me and to all mankind.
Encountering Christ:
Mary Set Out in Haste: Whenever we contemplate Mary in the Scriptures, her humility is apparent. She was humble enough to consent to the message of the angel, “I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). Here, she was humble enough to make haste to assist Elizabeth. The remarkable fact that she had just conceived the Son of the Most High in her womb did not keep her from seeing the needs of those around her. Her charity was concrete and immediate. Mary’s rapid response was the fruit of her humility; her focus was not on herself. She maintained this attitude of humble service throughout her life: sharing Jesus with the shepherds and kings in Bethlehem, noticing there was no wine at the wedding of Cana, and gathering the Apostles in prayer while awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
Ngày hôm nay chúng ta mừng lễ Đức Mẹ Thăm Viếng bà thánh Esave (Elizabeth), chúng ta vui mừng trong sự hy vọng. Nếu không có niềm hy vọng, chắc chắn chúng ta không thể tìm thấy bất cứ điều gì mà có thể hấp dẫn trên thế giới. Chúng ta cần hy vọng. Chỉ cần nhìn vào thế giới, không phải chỉ ở trong nước ta, mà trong tất cả các nước trên thế giới. Những cửa hàng buôn rộng lớn của hận thù, ích kỷ và hoài nghi đang thúc đẩy và đưa tới những tội ác vô nhân đạo nhất và làm ảnh hướng đến cảm xúc của chúng ta. Sự tàn bạo, những đam mê sắc dục như thú vật được tự do thoả mãn đã phác hoạ một cách sinh động trong các ấn phẩm và phim ảnh hiển thị một thế giới không có hy vọng.
Thế giới mà Đức Mẹ đã được sinh ra chắc chắn là vô vọng hơn, bởi vì Chúa Con Ngôi Hai chưa nhập thể, Chúa Kitô vẫn chưa được hình thành trong trong thế giứi tạo vật của chúng ta. Đức Kitô vẫn chưa trở thành một phần của nhân loại chúng ta. Sau khi Đức Maria nói "xin VÂNG" với Thiên Chúa, và cô đã thực sự mang chính Con của Thiên Chúa trong lòng mình, một con người hoàn toàn là con người và cũng hoàn toàn là Thiên Chúa, Ngài sẽ làm cho mọi người biết đến Thiên Chúa trong thế giới của chúng ta và đem tình yêu của Chúa Cha đến với chúng ta, qua việc Ngài thực hiện lời hứa cứu chuộc của Ngài và mang niềm hy vọng cụa ngài đến với nhân loại.
Đức Maria mang trong lòng cô tình yêu của Thiên Chúa, và cuộc thăm viếng bà Elizabeth, đã làm đứa trẻ trong bụng bà Elizabeth đã nhẩy mừng và chúc mừng cô. Đây là biểu tượng của niềm hy vọng của chúng ta, đó là sự cam kết mà chúng ta hy vọng sẽ được thành tụ, đó là lời hứa mà con người chúng ta, có thể phát triển trong sự trưởng thành cần thiết để đạt được sự cứu rỗi.
Today's feast, the Visitation, is a celebration of hope. Without hope, is there anything in the world that we might possibly find attractive? We need hope. Just look about the world, not only in our country, but throughout the entire world. Immense stores of hatred, selfishness and cynicism that motivate the most inhuman crimes assault our senses. The brutality, the animal passions let loose are portrayed vividly in print and picture and show a world without hope. The world our Lady was born into was undoubtedly more hopeless, for Christ was not yet conceived in it. Christ had not yet become a part of our humanity. Then our Lady said "yes" to God, and the child she bore was indeed God's own Son. As fully human as he was divine, he would make known in our world his father’s love for us, his promise of redemption and the hope that this promise bears. Our Lady carrying within her womb the Love of God, and journeying to Elizabeth, the child in her womb blessing and quickening the child Elizabeth carried: this is the symbol of our hope, it is the pledge that our hope will be fulfilled, it is the promise that we, the human race, can grow to the maturity needed to attain salvation.
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:39–42
The beautiful feast we celebrate today depicts two miraculous pregnancies. One came about by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. The other was the miraculous conception in the womb of a woman who was advanced in years. The Scripture passage quoted above presents us with the initial encounter of Mary and Elizabeth as they greeted each other upon Mary’s arrival. Mary had traveled a long distance to be with her cousin for the last few months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. And upon greeting Elizabeth, another miraculous event occurred. The baby in the womb of Elizabeth, Saint John the Baptist, “leaped for joy.” Thus, even prior to his birth, John began to fulfill his unique mission of preparing the way for the Lord. He did so at that moment by inspiring his own mother, Elizabeth, with a knowledge of the divine presence of the Savior within the womb of Mary.
Consider, especially, the conversations that these two holy women would have shared during their months together. Though we are given only a small insight into their initial conversation from the Scriptures, we can be certain that this was but a small sampling of what they would have discussed in much prayerful detail. In particular, their conversations would have contained a mutual sharing of the spiritual gift of joy.
Joy is much more than an emotion. It is spiritual in nature. It is not only an experience of something fun, it’s the experience of realizing the action of God in your life. Seeing God at work in wonderful ways leads to gratitude and rejoicing. This joy produces a strength and energy that is contagious and uplifting.
We must all strive to see the hand of God at work in our own lives so that our focus upon His divine actions will produce joy also. We need joy. We need to be strengthened by this gift so that we will be encouraged and strengthened as we daily strive to fulfill His will.
Reflect, today, upon the witness of joy that these two holy women give us. Know that you are called to share in the same joy as you humbly turn your attention to the ways in which God has blessed you. If you find that you lack joy in life, then consider where you allow your mind to wander throughout the day. Do you dwell on the past, on hurts, on problems and the like? If so, these thoughts will undoubtedly lead to depression and possibly even despair. Try to turn your mind to the action of God in your life. See the many blessings you have been given and savor those divine actions. Doing so will lead you to rejoice with Saint Elizabeth and our Blessed Mother.
My holy infant Jesus, as You dwelt in the sacred womb of Your own dear mother, Your presence caused much rejoicing in her heart and in the hearts of Elizabeth and John. Help me to see Your presence in our world and in my life, so that I, too, will be filled with the joy of You constantly coming to me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you wonderfully prepared Mary to be the mother of your Son. You preserved her from sin and she collaborated fully with your plan of salvation. Help me to see my role in your plan and collaborate with your grace as I serve others today.
1. Mary, the Daughter of Zion: Today’s First Reading, taken from the prophet Zephaniah, anticipates many of the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. Zephaniah tells the people of Israel – also called “Daughter Zion” – to rejoice, for the Lord, the king, dwells among them. Likewise, the Angel tells Mary, the daughter of Zion, to rejoice for the Lord is with her. The cause for rejoicing is that God has turned away our enemy and the day of our salvation is near. God is a mighty savior who protects us, dwells among us, rejoices over us, and renews us in his love. Zephaniah foresees the day when both God and humanity will sing joyfully of each other. On the one hand, Christ offers perfect praise and thanksgiving to God and we share in that song. On the other, God rejoices that we welcome his salvation through his only Son, who by his passion, death, and resurrection establishes the New Covenant and truly renews us, giving us a new heart and breathing within us a new spirit. The divine and human song of praise is celebrated here on earth in the liturgy, which shares in the heavenly liturgy.
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” ~Luke 1:39–45
Toward the end of the fourteenth century, the Church suffered from an internal conflict known as the Western Schism. In 1378, two men claimed to be the pope. Pope Urban VI resided in Rome, and the anti-pope Clement VII resided in Avignon, France. This division raged on until 1417 when the Council in Pisa resolved the issue once and for all. Pope Urban VI instituted today’s feast, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1389 as a way of asking the universal Church to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary for unity and peace.
Though the immediate reason for the institution of this feast was internal Church conflict, its inspiration is the glorious story that Saint Luke recounts in the first chapter of his Gospel. After the Annunciation, God became man. Divinity united to humanity within the womb of the Blessed Mother. Most likely, Mary traveled to be with Elizabeth, her cousin, within a month of conceiving the Savior of the World. Thus, she traveled as a tabernacle of the Most High. Note that Luke tells us that she traveled “in haste.” On a spiritual level, we can see within this line a twofold action. First, though the Savior was but a tiny child within Mary’s womb, He was also God. Though He lacked the use of human reason at that time, He had divine knowledge. Thus, within His divinity, God the Son desired that His virginal mother not only go to Elizabeth to assist her in her pregnancy, but that she also go to her because the Son of God desired to sanctify John the Baptist within his mother’s womb. The first thing we see, therefore, in this journey “in haste” is the revelation of the Son of God’s desire to pour forth His sanctifying grace upon His precursor, John, within the womb. It was Jesus, within the womb, Who inspired His mother to make the journey so as to fulfill His divine will.
The “haste” also affected our Blessed Mother. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and carried the Eternal God within her womb. Therefore, her motherly heart would have sensed the longing of the will of her Divine Son within her womb to bestow His first gift of sanctifying grace upon John. As a result, she was compelled to travel quickly to Elizabeth so that her Son could fulfill His will.
When Mary reached Elizabeth, Elizabeth cried out, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She went on to call Mary “the mother of my Lord” and to reveal that at the moment Mary greeted her, something amazing and spiritual took place within the child in her womb. John leapt for joy. Spiritual joy is a reaction to grace, and John encountered grace in that moment. Saint Thomas Aquinas holds the position that John the Baptist was delivered from Original Sin at that moment. In fact, he goes so far as to speculate that divine grace may have accelerated his use of human reason within the womb: “Perhaps also in this child the use of reason and will was so far accelerated that while yet in his mother’s womb he was able to acknowledge, believe, and consent, whereas in other children we have to wait for these things till they grow older: this again I count as a miraculous result of the divine power” (Summa Theologica 3.27.6).
In addition to the Visitation being a revelation to us about Saint John the Baptist and the Son of God’s desire to sanctify him in the womb, it also reveals much to us about the Blessed Mother. Immediately after her exchange with Elizabeth, Mary sings her Magnificat, in which she not only glorifies God for His greatness and perfect plan, but also reveals the beauty of her own soul. The Blessed Mother speaks of her “lowliness” (humility) and the fact that “all ages” will call her blessed. She reveals that God has done “great things” for her because she had the gift of holy fear of the Lord. She goes on to reveal that in her lowly state, God will exalt her, as He will exalt all who humble themselves before Him.
As we celebrate this glorious feast, ponder first the great need the Church has for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the Mediatrix of Grace, as Vatican II called her. She is the instrument through which grace entered the world in the Person of her Son. Just as Pope Urban VI saw a need to heal the Church through Mary’s intercession in the fourteenth century, so the Church is also in great need of healing today. Call upon her intercession for the Church as we honor her Visitation today.
Ponder, also, the expediency with which Mary traveled to Elizabeth to introduce her cousin and the child in her womb to the Savior. Too often, we take a lackadaisical approach to evangelization. We hesitate, remain uncertain and uncommitted, and lack zeal. Reflect upon the holy drive within Mary’s heart as she traveled to Elizabeth, and seek to imitate that same drive in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to not only inspire you to share the love of Christ with others, but to also fill you with a sense of holy urgency. God’s Heart burns with a desire to be known, loved, and adored by His people. He wants to use you, as He did Mary, to become the instrument by which this happens in the hearts of those to whom God is sending you.
Most glorious Virgin Mary, you were filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of the Annunciation and carried the Eternal Son of the Father within you. As you journeyed to visit Elizabeth, you did so with a holy urgency and drive, enabling you to fulfill the will of Your Son. Please pray for me, that I may be filled with that same urgency to become holy and to spread that holiness to others. Mother Mary, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I long to know and love you better. I desire to contemplate your Scriptures with the eyes of faith. On this last day of May, open my mind and heart to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, that I may rejoice with Mary in contemplating your goodness to me and to all mankind.
Encountering Christ:
Mary Set Out in Haste: Whenever we contemplate Mary in the Scriptures, her humility is apparent. She was humble enough to consent to the message of the angel, “I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). Here, she was humble enough to make haste to assist Elizabeth. The remarkable fact that she had just conceived the Son of the Most High in her womb did not keep her from seeing the needs of those around her. Her charity was concrete and immediate. Mary’s rapid response was the fruit of her humility; her focus was not on herself. She maintained this attitude of humble service throughout her life: sharing Jesus with the shepherds and kings in Bethlehem, noticing there was no wine at the wedding of Cana, and gathering the Apostles in prayer while awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
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