Feast of the Visitation

Today we finish the month of May with yet another Marian feast – the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. Besides the birth of Jesus, this must have been one of the happiest days in Mary’s life. Reflect on this short poem as you enjoy also the two photos that shows the exuberance of the encounter, not the solemn moment that most painters portray.

Mary, you went hurriedly over hillsides,
Many of them, to be with aunt Elizabeth,
Whose womb also swelled with surprise
You, the woman of youth and vigor,
Weary from the long road’s rigors,
                                Wondering still about the mystery within.                               Elizabeth, wrinkled and wise,
Weary from the child kicking inside,
(already a hint of wildness in him.)

 'Visitation' by Sister Laura McGowan

The two of you, meeting at the door,
weeping and laughing at the same time,
Each one gasping at the other’s fertility
And leaping between and among you,
those two frisky fetuses, yet to be born,
                                       the prophet and One to be proclaimed                                              Did they feel the love of your hospitality?
                                     Did they swim and sway with your voice?                                           Did they listen with tiny, eager ears to all
that passed between the two of you
in the days and weeks that swiftly passed
                                       growing and feeding on your rich love?                                             I don’t know which I’d have wanted more, 
                                     to be in one of those glorious filled wombs,                                         or in the house of that woman-blessed place.