Today's Feast of the Visitation celebrates the visit Mary made "with haste" to her cousin, Elizabeth in what is now the little village of Ain Karim, not far from Jerusalem. While sparks did not exactly fly, each was "filled with the Holy Spirit" through whom Elizabeth was to recognize that the Mother of her Lord was standing before her. Even the infant in her womb leapt for joy. Mary, truly filled with the Holy Spirit as she was carrying his child, let out a song of joy that we repeat daily at Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church, and which has been immortalized in many settings by composers over the centuries.
This year, the Feast comes the day after the Ascension, a period of waiting until the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and models for us what we are to be, bearers of the Holy Spirit with the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, which yield the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, modesty, self-control, and chastity (Gal. 5:22–23). So gifted, we have the ability to recognize the Holy Spirit in others and sing our own Magnificat as Spirit-filled visitors.
Bro. Rene
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