Good Morning Sisters!
I walked this morning in God's wonderous creation and marveled at the beauty of the world He made for us. Since I was walking alone, I was free to contemplate deeply the Joyous Mysteries. I was struck in particular by images of the Visitation.
Poor Joseph! That was my first thought...Poor Joseph! He was betrothed to a pious young woman for whom he had great affection. To me his esteem and affection are so obvious as he contemplates what to do with the information that Mary has imparted to him. He must have been rocked to his foundation with the astonishing revelation that she was pregnant! And the story she told him? How could he believe such a tale?
Kevin Saunders-biblical scholar, doing a bible study at St. Steven's has postulated that Joseph snatched onto the news of Elizabeth's pregnancy as an excuse to send Mary there while he contemplated what to do with this devastating (at least from his human point of view) news that Mary was pregnant.
But then I was struck with this thought. How sad must Mary have been to see the hurt in Joseph's eyes. How very difficult must it have been for Mary to know that Joseph was deeply disturbed by the wondrous news of her pregnancy. Nothing could take away the deeper joy of knowing she was pregnant with God's son, but she must have traveled the many miles to her cousins home with a heavy heart at her thoughts of dear Joseph's hurt. Mary's compassionate nature would have suffered with Joseph, just as she suffers with us in our hurts. I can imagine that all the way to Elizabeth's house she must have prayed fervently for God to help Joseph. I have no doubt that she had no thought to herself as her trust in the Lord was unshakable, but she must have been saddened on that long trek to Elizabeth's house thinking about the dear man that had been so disturbed by the news she gave him.
Imagine how very AFFIRMING Elizabeth's words of greeting must have been after Marys long journey.
"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?"
Can you imagine their joyful embrace? Can you just feel the burden of the sadness over Joseph's disquiet lifting from Mary's frail shoulders as she is enveloped in love and acceptance by her holy cousin. How freeing for Mary to be able to unburden the joys and sadness weighing on her pure and loving heart. And there is Elizabeth, a woman who has been marginalized in her own right by he inability to conceive. The society would certainly have looked at her askance and she would have felt their disdain. Elizabeth too needed someone to listen to her joys and past sorrows. She too needed Mary's sweet embrace.
The supportive and loving relationship between these woman is what I feel when we join together in ENDOW. I can unburden by heavy heart with those that will accept me without judging. I can share my joys, knowing that they will be multiplied as you all share them with me. We all are Mary and Elizabeth to one another. What an ENORMOUS gift from our Lord!!
Mary our mother,
We humbly ask you to help us be Elizabeth to each other.
We ask you to help us develop our feminine genius to enrich the world
We implore you to love as you did, with a view outside of ourselves and our self intererst
Holy Mother of God
Pray for us!
Prayer Warrior - Your Visitation meditation really brings it home! The support/affirmations we receive from one another during times of disappointment/sadness in our lives is just the right "medicine" needed for healing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a reminder to me that there are times in my life when I have been too caught up in my "own" world, not recognizing those in my life that have needed that Loving Support.
Thank God he gave us Mother Mary who lived the Human disappointments & sufferings & to show us the way & be with us in this Life & our Life to come!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.