The Visitation

Today let’s take a moment to engage our imagination as we approach God. We’ve been pondering the themes from Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth this week - blessing, mentoring, encouragement. Today, read over the text and then spend some time reflecting on the image below. It’s from a church in Suchitoto, El Salvador.

Don’t rush, but let your mind sink into it, allowing your heart to notice things you might not have before about the interaction between the four people present in this story (Mary, Elizabeth; Jesus and John in utero). What’s striking you most? What can you take encouragement from? How are you motivated to respond? How might you give thanks?

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women,and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
- Luke 1:39-45