Tags
community, companion, Elizabeth, God, Jesus, journey, joy, Mary, reassurance, relationship, surprise, victory, Visitation, walk
Today is the Feast Day of the Visitation – that lovely encounter between Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus, when they are both unusually pregnant. You may recall Elizabeth is older, and had likely assumed she would never have children. Her child would become John the Baptist. And of course, Mary, officially unwed and a virgin, is now newly pregnant with the son of God. When the two cousins meet at the Visitation, John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb, and we get the profession of faith that is so familiar to us in the rosary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”[i] Just a few verses later, Mary’s response to Elizabeth is the text we call the Magnificat, or the Song of Mary[ii] – a text sung at Evensongs for centuries.
As I heard this text retold at the monastery today, I was reminded of how important companions are in our spiritual journey. I imagine Elizabeth’s pregnancy was full of anxiety – fear that she might lose the precious child in her high-risk pregnancy. And I imagine Mary’s pregnancy was full of a totally different kind of anxiety – so many social mores to manage, Joseph to worry about, and, well, the whole God-bearing thing. And yet, only in this meeting of two women do we get two of the richest texts in our tradition. Sometimes we need earthly companions to help us digest the big stuff that God throws our way.
I wonder who your earthly companions are these days. I wonder whether you have reached out to them recently with whatever stuff God has been throwing your way. We are a people made for community and relationship. We are not meant to walk the journey alone – even though we are perfectly capable of doing so. But how much more joy, surprise, reassurance, and victory do we experience when we walk together? May this Feast Day of the Visitation be your invitation to find someone to walk with in this crazy season God has given you.
[i] Luke 1.42
[ii] Luke 1.46-55