31 May 2014
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Feast of the Visitation celebrates Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth. It’s always nice to know that people are happy when the relatives visit since this may not always be the case….
Now this visitation of Mary marks one of the many announcements about Jesus within the Gospel of Luke The first visit concerning the birth of Jesus is to Mary, who identifies herself as poor and lowly. Then the next announcement about Jesus comes from Elizabeth, and she certainly was no one important, in fact she and her husband were the object of scorn and pity. Then we see the angels announcing the birth to the shepherds and then later we gain a further insight about Jesus and Mary from two old people that spend most of their time in the temple.
Well you don’t need to be a scripture scholar to see where Luke is going with all this. Jesus comes to the poor, the downtrodden, those for whom life has not dealt them a winning hand at Bridge. Of the four gospels, the Gospel of Luke places a particular emphasis on Jesus’ presence to the poor and that this work should be continued by the Christian community. Pressured by advertising and the presumed need to get ahead, we sometimes forget those who are left behind. Today’s Feast of the Visitation reminds us that we must be sensitive to the presence of Christ, just as Elizabeth was. It is in the recognition of this presence that we move out of our own spiritual poverty and make Christ the center of our lives.