The Second Joyful Mystery ~ The Visitation

  

This vibrant picture of two pregnant Caribbean women meeting - Mary and her elder relative Elizabeth, is called the Visitation - the visit. The energy, the smiles, the colors, the embraces! The quote from Saint Jane Frances de Chantal is quite apt: "This is the place of our delight and rest." We might read the account of the Visitation in Luke 1:39-56, before going to pray this decade of the rosary with the ten reflections.

Our Father, Who art in  heaven...

The baby within Mary's womb is at first, like all of us, a cluster of cells. Yet God is here - a God who wants more than anything to be shared, expressed and loved. And I don't want to just know this, like data, but I want to be excited by this, excited to do or be something new.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary wastes no time. Unannounced, with the embryonic child within her womb, she goes off to see her elder relative Elizabeth. Time is short. Let me not delay in the things of God: family, humility, justice, reconciliation, compassion.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Hastily, Mary went to Elizabeth to share the happy news. Perhaps at times she ran along the way, like the women of Easter morning - running - running from the empty tomb in the joy of Jesus Risen! Oh, God keep me from running to the people and places of false and temporary happiness. I will run instead with the happy news of Jesus in my heart!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Elizabeth would not have known of Mary's visit ahead of time. When Mary arrived at the home in Judea, Jesus was the size of a pinhead in his mother's womb. And Elizabeth said: Who am I, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth understands who this is in Mary's womb. Do I?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I am the Lord's servant, Mary said. She opened up space for God, and forgetting herself she went quickly to see her elder pregnant relative, Elizabeth. Love puts itself at the service of others.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary's pregnancy. Christianity is about a cross and an empty tomb, but it is also about a womb. A fertilized ovum that became an embryo, that became a fetus. No matter how tiny, the God-man, Jesus, was with us from the start. He took on our human form and became one of us.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the time of the Visitation, Mary was pregnant likely no more than ten days. There would not have been signs of her pregnancy yet. But when Mary arrived, the baby inside Elizabeth's womb jumped for joy. Jumped for joy! (Luke 1:44)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As unmarried, Joseph and Mary's family might have rejected her. She might have been reduced to ostracized poverty. She and her child might have become outcasts. Today she would be counseled to take all of these negatives into consideration and end the pregnancy. But she chose to have her child!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The angel is quite clear: not only is the child's conception announced but so is His name. His name will be Jesus. Already the little life in Mary's womb is known to God the Creator by name! And so was I? And so is the life of each conceived person. I have called you by name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This is strange. Some people still like to think of ourselves as a Christian county. But it was the ancient Chinese who calculated someone's age not from the day of the person's birth but from the best guess of when the person was conceived!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Lilium Candidum ~ Madonna Lily

Da rosas, nam Regina! ~ Give roses, for the Queen! And The First Joyful Mystery ~ The Annunciation

DATING BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES, a rosarium is a garden where only roses are collected and cultivated. Roses are considered to be the most beautiful, elegant and prized of all the flowers. A rosarium is most often enclosed by a fence, stone wall or hedge, inviting privacy, quiet, contemplation and the enjoyment of beauty. The word rosary has come to mean the string of beads one uses to pray while considering the lives of  Jesus and Mary.

So here is a link of unusual delicacy - that while we're praying the rosary, we're offering Our Lady roses! Indeed, each Hail Mary (the prayer which echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary's relative, Elizabeth) can become a rose selected from your own inner enclosed rosarium.

Here then are three collections of meditations which I have composed, each set containing five scenes from the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. The Luminous Mysteries can be found in the posts just prior to this one. Each of the scenes contains a collection of ten very short meditations for us to consider, so that our prayer will remain focused and thoughtful.

The rose at the head of the reflections serves to remind us that the Hail Mary is our gift. A decade then (the groups of ten) is a bundle of roses: white for Joyful Mysteries, red for Sorrowful Mysteries, yellow for Glorious Mysteries.

Mary calls herself, servant (Luke 1:38), while we call her queen. And we've all seen pictures of queens coming to pay visits to towns and villages. Long lines of people, with children up front, stand waiting to give small bouquets of flowers to the queen. Even a little child with the tiniest bouquet waits with excitement and anticipation, hoping the queen will pass and the gift can be made person, in humility and joy. The prayer-bouquet then mustn't be put together sloppily or hurriedly. I must consider what I'm doing in my prayer, like placing flowers together nicely, giving each consideration. This will help us to put away that praying of the rosary which is often made ugly by racing - "rattling" Jesus says (Matthew 6:7-8).

The whole rosary doesn't need to be prayed in one sitting; it can be spread out over the course of the day or longer. Prayer should refresh, not exhaust us, and so a few moments of silence can be introduced between the reflection and the Hail Mary.

The First Joyful Mystery

The Annunciation

John Collier painted this Annunciation in 2000 for the Church of Saint Gabriel in McKinney, Texas. Isn't it wonderful that someone is interested in painting the Annunciation in a contemporary setting? This indicates that Mr. Collier understands that the Mysteries of God - the bright closeness of God - is for every age in every place - that these things are  forever and not moments lost in time. What makes the painting so reflective is that Mr. Collier has included some traditional elements, like the lily placed on the porch, that the angel has wings and is wearing a robe, that Mary is dressed in blue. But there are other elements that are surprising and delightful: that Mary is wearing saddle shoes which suggests she is quite young, that there is a breeze against her dress reminding us of the breath of God in the story of our creation, that the light indicates it is morning (the start of something new), that the neighborhood is one we might know from our own American experience. We might read the gospel account of the Annunciation before praying this decade ( Luke 1:26-38).

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Coming from heaven, an angel must be terrifying. And so in kindness, Gabriel said to Mary, Don't be afraid. Why would I be frightened at the appearance of an angel? Perhaps fearful of what God might ask of me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As the angel appeared to Mary and invited her not to fear, I'm to think of the other angel, at the end of the gospel-story, at the tomb of Easter morning. Already the gospel is getting me ready for the Resurrection of Jesus: Love that refuses to lose me!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I should acknowledge that Mary likely had her own life-plans. But she put these aside as God revealed His urgent request. As I ponder my own life-plans, am I open, Mary-like, to what God surely has in mind for me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I must remember too that Mary is going to have to tell Joseph of her pregnancy and that the expected baby is not his! Talk about trusting that things will work out; that God is in charge!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be great, the angel told Mary. He'll be great in having followers down through the ages. He'll be great in his miracles and in his teaching that can turn a life around. He'll be great in His promises and in how far He'll go to get us back for Himself. And I want to be great too: great in love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be called Emmanuel, the angel told Mary. Is this like a nick-name? The name means: God is with us. The best any friend can do in the sorrows, struggles, disasters and joys of life, is to be with me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The name Jesus means: Yahweh saves. Yahweh is the Hebrew people's name for God. But saves us from what? Saved from the downward spiral of wrong choosing that seems to have been going on since soon after humans were created. Saved from our worst selves. Saved from our ultimate undoing. Saved from death's hold on me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Often in pictures of the Annunciation scene the painter places a lily near Mary: a symbol of her purity. Blessed are the pure of heart, Jesus says, they will see God. Do I know that I can see God, that I can reach out and even touch God? That's not nonsense. But it will never happen if I don't first have a pure heart.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Saint Augustine wrote: Before Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, she conceived Him in  her heart. Oh, I want a heart like Mary's: all YES to Jesus!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A disciple isn't just a follower. The word follower can connote a weak tag-a-long, someone with nothing better to do. But a Christian disciple is the one who pursues Jesus in the adventure of obedience and friendship. This Christ-Adventure promises joy, like nothing to be found elsewhere.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

The Luminous Mysteries ~ The Gift of the Holy Eucharist

The Fifth Luminous Mystery

The Gift of the Eucharist

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

A cup exists to be filled. I can ask God to fill me up with what I need to give Him glory, to serve Him well and to be happy and at peace.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the Mystical Supper Jesus broke the bread, passed it around and gave it away. Righteous people live this way: broken and given away. Often they are non-believers. A doctor just completed the Boston Marathon when the explosions happened. He turned around and started to serve the many people who were injured.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In the Mass the plate is offered with the little bread that will become the Body of Christ. Put on the plate every concern, every problem, every heart-longing, every suffering, and ask for a transformation as God wills it.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

An Episcopalian minister, who is also a Jungian analyst said: The Catholic Mass must remain; it is the only thing left in our culture that calls us to transformation. But it is not a transformation of bad to good, so much as the transformation of my personal evolution or coming to wholeness (holiness).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A mother who lives in Brooklyn, takes the subway into Manhattan each day with her little daughter. The girl is dropped off at her full day kindergarten in the neighborhood where the mother works. In the evening about 6, the mother returns to pick up the girl from the after-school program. The mother gets them something to eat at a fast food place, and then they get back on the train to Brooklyn. It is an exhausting day. She is ground up like wheat and crushed like grapes.God understands.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In receiving Holy Communion we receive the Body and Blood of Christ separately - as if to signify the death of Jesus in which His body was emptied of his life-blood through his wounds. I bring all my wounds with me to Communion: the abuse, the failed relationships, my addictions, my depression and anxieties, my self-loathing, the wreckage of my past as AA says.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is the High Priest who forever makes intercession before the Father on behalf of our weary world. What Jesus did at Calvary He does always, and the Eucharist lets us enter into that mystical self-gift as nourished sharers and participants.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

We reverence the Eucharist: we genuflect and bow, we incense the Eucharist and sing hymns before it, we place it in a golden container and adore it. But do we reverence each other, who are made in God's image and likeness?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the Holy Thursday meal there should have been someone to wash the dusty feet of the arriving guests. Apparently this detail was missed that  night. Jesus waited through most of the meal to see if someone in the room would assume that responsibility. Finally he did it himself. Maybe he said to them: You know we've been together for years now, and I would have hoped that after all this time you'd have learned the lesson. The Eucharist is intimately linked to the service of people.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the Last Supper Jesus gave Judas his First Communion before Judas left the room in a hurry. Afterwards Jesus accepted Judas' kiss of betrayal in the garden and even called Judas, friend. On Holy Thursday night, Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve young people in jail. The message of the Mystical Supper with its Holy Food, Foot Washing and the Passion begun that night is, we are all the friends of Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Holy Saturday Night ~ The Sepulchre of Jesus ~ Jerusalem