Her First Visitation

 

Michiel Coxie "Annunciation"

As we know, it's almost the Feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples.

As we also know, Pentecost was not the first time our Blessed Mother received a Visitation from God.

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy Offspring to be born will be called Son of God."  (Luke 1:35)

Immediately upon saying these words to Mary, the angel added:  "Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age.."  (Luke 1:36)  Mary then went in haste to Elizabeth, an event we will be celebrating on May 31st. 

I tend to think of these things (the Annunciation, the Visitation, Pentecost) together, because I like to meditate upon their connections. 

After all, there would have been no Pentecost if there had been no Incarnation.  

There would have been no visitation of Mary to Elizabeth if there had been no Annunciation. 

Without God's Visitation to Mary and her total yes to Him, we would have had no Savior, no Cross, no Resurrection, no gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, no Church. 

I pray that we will be graced to open our hearts more fully to the Holy Spirit. I pray that we will seek His Visitation upon our souls, that we will visit Him in praise and adoration, that we will carry Him tenderly to those around us. 

As we prepare for the glorious Feast of Pentecost, may we be open to His love, His holiness, His cleansing, and His grace. 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8)

This is an edited repost from the archives of May 25, 2012.      

Our Lady of Fatima Asks...

Painting: Thomas Walch

Behold the Handmaid

"In Mary we don't find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish virgins, who obey, but thoughtlessly. 

"Our Lady listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn't fully understand, and asks about what she doesn't know.  

"Then she gives herself completely to doing God's will: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.'"

St Josemaria Escriva

Painting: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Annunciation, 1861

One Thing

Painting: Neroccio di Bartolomeo de' Landi, The Virgin and Child with Sts. Benedict and Catherine of Siena, 1490

The Decisive Issue

It Is Essential

To Carry Him As You Did

'Teach us, O Mother, to carry Him as you did, completely oblivious of material things, with the eyes of your soul fixed unceasingly upon Jesus within you, contemplating and adoring Him in continual wonder.

'You passed in the midst of created things as in a dream, seeing everything that was not Jesus as though in a mist, while He shone and scintillated in your soul as resplendent as the sun, and encompassed your heart and enlightened your mind.

'Teach us to act on our little excursions in this world and indeed on our whole journey through life so that we may walk as you did, on your travels and every day, seeing external things as though they were plunged in deep darkness, with our eyes fixed only on your Jesus Who illuminates our souls like a flash of fire.'

Charles de Foucauld

Painting: Chiesa de S. Pietro, Madonna del Parto

It Is Essential

Newspaper photo of Miracle of the Sun, public domain

And He Raised Her to the Highest Heaven

As Through Pure Crystal

Painting: Leopold Kupelwieser, via Wikimedia Commons 

'To give worthy praise to the Lord's mercy, we unite ourselves with Your Immaculate Mother, for then our hymn will be more pleasing to You, because she is chosen from among men and angels. Through her, as through a pure crystal, Your mercy was passed on to us. Through her, man became pleasing to God; through her, streams of grace flowed upon us.'

St. Faustina

Have a Blessed Feast of the Visitation

How To Find Christmas Peace?

'How to find Christmas peace in a world of unrest? You cannot find peace on the outside but you can find peace on the inside, by letting God do to your soul what Mary let Him do to her body; namely, let Christ be formed in you.... 

'As He was physically formed in her, so He wills to be spiritually formed in you. If you knew He was seeing through your eyes, you would see in every fellowman a child of God. If you knew that He worked through your hands, they would bless all the day through.'

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Painting:George Bernard O'Neill, A Christmas Kiss

We Interrupt Your Life To Say....

Sometimes the activities of Advent and Christmas can feel like an intrusion. Day to day life is more or less put on hold by an urgent need to shop and wrap and plan. Chairs and tables are displaced by, of all things, a tree in the middle of our house.  There is no time to do ordinary things, as everyday life is seriously disrupted for weeks on end. It can seem like a major interruption. 

A few years ago, the truth of it hit me. This is what Christmas has been since the instant of the Incarnation: an interruption. Please stay with me here, because our first reaction to the word “interruption” could be negative.  But interruptions are often quite positive, and this Interruption was the most positive of them all.

Think of it.  Mary was living a quiet, hidden life.  She was betrothed. Then one day an angel appeared to her, and with that Holy Interruption Mary’s life was changed forever. As was Joseph’s, as was yours, as was mine.

As we know, there was a Birth.  There were shepherds tending their flocks, and again an angel appeared.  A night of sheep-watching was interrupted.  

While most of the world went on unaware, a few men in the east noticed something out of the ordinary.  A sign in the sky.  Something signaling, to them, a wondrous Interruption – one so marvelous that they must drop any other plans they had and go in haste, and they must bring gifts.  These men were wise enough to know that somehow the world had changed, maybe even that the course of life on earth had been altered.

The change was so shattering that mankind took notice.  Calendars would later mark the divide.  

God Himself had split the heavens.  

We now measure time by the before and after of that Grand Interruption, in effect saying that yes, we see. We may not understand, really, but we recognize the wonder and the mystery of it. God interrupted the cycle of sin and death by breaking into our world (John 3:16).  Jesus broke into the flesh of man, shattering hopelessness with His power and mercy.

With Jesus' arrival in the flesh, God interrupted our misery.  He opened to us the path to salvation.   

When I feel stressed by Christmas interruptions, I try to remember what I'm celebrating. Death was interrupted by Life. Despair was interrupted by Hope. 

With His glorious interruption, God tore through the fabric of time.





 

This is a repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.
  
© N Shuman thecloisteredheart.org 

Painting at top: Carl Heinrich Bloch, The Annunciation
Painting at bottom: Blake, The Ancient of Days 

Dear Mother...

Painting used: Peter Paul Rubens, Immaculate Conception

A Secret Told by Angels

Revisiting Magnificats

In honor of 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday,' I'd like to drop back in on the scene of the Visitation, when our Blessed Mother burst forth with the glorious words of her Magnificat: 

'My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exalts in God my Savior, for He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness; all ages to come shall call me blessed.  God Who is mighty has done great things for me, holy is His Name...' (Luke 1:46-49) 

Was this the only time Mary burst forth with praise of God? Of course not. Her later words of exaltation do not have to be recorded for us to know for certain that she spoke them. She who was sinless, holy, utterly dedicated to God, and living with Jesus within the very walls of her home... how could it be possible for her not to have uttered countless 'magnificats?' 

When Jesus took His first steps, Mary was watching. 

When He spoke His first words, when He lay sleeping in her arms - can we imagine the praise within her?

As Mary prayed in the temple, cared for her home, prepared meals for her little family, surely she worshiped through it all.

In my daily life, sometimes I reflect upon Mary's magnificats. Going on my little 'visitations' to those around me, I try to remember that in the midst of her Visitation, Mary gave thanks.

I, too, am called by God to proclaim His greatness, sometimes within hearing of those around me, sometimes in the quiet of my heart. The mighty things God has done for me are quite different from what He did for Mary... but He has done some great things nonetheless.

In joyous moments, do I remember to exalt Him? When I have an opportunity, do I proclaim the greatness of the Lord? And what about the sad times - what then?  I have no doubt that even in her worst moments, Mary's heart could (and did) cry 'holy is His Name.'

When tough times come to my own life, I have a Mother who can assist me. I think she can help me find the will to praise.

When Jesus took His last steps, Mary was watching. 

When He spoke His last words, Mary was there to hear them. 'John, behold your mother. Father forgive them. It is finished.'  She was there when He was taken from the Cross.

Scripture gives us no record of what Mary said when Jesus was placed in her arms that last time. We can only imagine. We do know that her heart, her tender, motherly heart, was pierced and broken.  Did she utter actual words? We do not know. But we are certain of the attitude of Mary, and we know that her decision to trust and to praise would have been there, even then.

In my imagination, I can almost hear it.

'My soul proclaims the
greatness of the Lord; 
my spirit exalts 
in God my Savior... 
God Who is mighty 
has done great 
things for me. 
Holy is His Name.'

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.' 
 
Text not in quotes © 2012 N Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org

Paintings top to bottom:
Visitation by Ubaldo Gandolfi
Virgin and Child with St Anne by Leonardo da Vinci
Pietà by Giovanni Segala


 

Pray For Us

What a Wonder is Your Mother

'What a wonder is your mother! The Lord entered her, and became a Servant; the Word entered her, and became silent within her; Thunder entered her, and His voice was still; the Shepherd of all entered her, and He became a Lamb ... the Rich went in, He came out poor; the Most High went in, He came out lowly. Brightness went into her and clothed Himself and came forth in the form of One despised... He Who gives food to all went in, and got hunger; He Who gives all to drink went in and got thirst. From her came forth naked the One Who clothes all.'

St. Ephraem the Syrian

Painting: Eduard Veith, 1896

Into My Mother's Hands

A particularly tender moment in a nun's profession is when she pronounces vows with her hands in those of Mother Superior.  "My heart was full of joy," wrote one such Sister, "as I pronounced these words from the vow formula, '...I vow to God into your hands Reverend Mother to live my whole life in obedience, without property, and in chastity.'" (Sister Mary Immaculata) 

"I vow into your hands...."

I read these words and immediately think of the total consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort:  "I, (name)_____, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism..."

In whose hands are these baptismal vows being renewed and ratified?  Into those of the Blessed Mother. 

"I vow into your hands...."

"When first under Francis’ (de Sales) direction, Jane de Chantal, then a widow with four small children… took the Virgin Mary as the Abbess of the cloister of her own heart." (from Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal, Letters of Spiritual Direction by Thibert, Wright and Power, 1988, p. 41) 

"I vow into your hands...."

The abbess of a monastery is in every way a mother.  She leads those in her community; she nurtures their spiritual growth and oversees the care of their temporal needs.  She teaches, guides, counsels, prays, comforts, serves, loves, corrects, soothes…

We who wish to live cloistered in heart, subjected as we are to the world and its distractions, must have an abbess who truly cares about our personal stresses and trials.  We need an abbess who can help us live in the midst of the world and not be of it.  Ours must be a Mother who can nurture us, care for our lives of "enclosure," and show us what it means to say and become a total yes to God.

"Mary said a total yes to God.  Thus she lived enclosure in His will fully.  She embraced His will so totally that He became enfleshed in her.  She listened to Him more completely than any human ever has or will.  Sinless, she never stepped outside her enclosure.  She yielded fully to God’s will, abandoning herself utterly to God.  All her plans for her life were put aside in favor of God’s.  Mary carried Jesus within her as a baby and she gave Him to the world - thus she is the perfect cloistered heart." (from The Cloistered Heart (book), 1996)

"‘Behold thy Mother’ (John 19:26).  By these words, Mary, by reason of the love she bore them, became the Mother, not only of John, but of all men." (St. Bernadine of Siena)

"Honor, venerate and respect with special love the holy and gracious Virgin Mary who, being the Mother of Christ our Brother, is also in truth our very mother.  Let us then have recourse to her, and as her little children cast ourselves into her bosom with perfect confidence; at all times and on all occasions let us invoke her maternal love."  (St. Francis de Sales). 

"God could have given us the Redeemer of the human race and the Founder of the Faith in another way than through the Virgin, but since Divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the Man-God through Mary, who conceived Him by the Holy Ghost and bore Him in her womb, it only remains for us to receive Christ from the hands of Mary." (St. Pius X)

A Prayer:  Blessed Mother Mary, your "yes" was the door through which our Savior entered the world as Man, and so I thank you for that yes.  I ask your help that I, too, might say yes to all that God asks of me.  May I be given grace to do whatever He tells me.  May I be given grace to utter magnificats of praise in all of the circumstances of my life.  I ask you to teach and counsel me, to comfort and correct me, to lead me ever closer to your Son. 

Pray for me, Heavenly Mother.

Into your hands, I entrust my commitment to God.

Text not in quotes © 2014 and 2015 Nancy Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org      

This is a re-post from July, 2014, slightly edited 
Photo of a profession at Tyringham Visitation Monastery, Massachusetts, provided by C Wells

As in a Mist

'Teach us, O Mother, to carry Him as you did, completely oblivious of material things, with the eyes of your soul fixed unceasingly upon Jesus within you, contemplating and adoring Him in continual wonder.

'You passed in the midst of created things as in a dream, seeing everything that was not Jesus as though in a mist, while He shone and scintillated in your soul as resplendent as the sun, and encompassed your heart and enlightened your mind.

'Teach us to act on our little excursions in this world and indeed on our whole journey through life so that we may walk as you did, on your travels and every day, seeing external things as though they were plunged in deep darkness, with our eyes fixed only on your Jesus Who illuminates our souls like a flash of fire.'

Charles de Foucauld










Painting: Herman Richir, in US public domain due to age