Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Visitation of Mary

The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. (Zeph 3:15)

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:10)

Christ asks us to not be afraid; remember that those who are controlled by the devil are always deathly afraid. Therefore trust in Him and remember that according to the Talmud God says to us: With thy very wounds I will heal thee. If you are unhappy it is because of sin therefore seek the healing that Christ gives in the sacrament of confession and receive joyfully the Holy Eucharist.

Visitation of Mary[1]

This day is called the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because on it Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, whom, as the angel had told her, God had blessed with a son in her old age.I have always thought that on this occasion the reason Elizabeth was so enlivened at the leaping of John in her womb was because as an older pregnant woman she may have feared that John was stillborn? Is it possible that John the Baptist was Jesus’s first miracle? It is an interesting thought.

Explanation of the Canticle

In this hymn Mary with joy praises God, the Lord, that He has regarded her humility, and made her to be the Mother of His only-begotten Son, wherefore she should be called blessed by all generations; and she declares the truths and mysteries which the incarnation brought to light. The mercy of God, namely, reaches from generation to generation to them that fear Him. He scatters the thoughts of the proud, and puts down from their seats the mighty; but He exalts the humble. He fills those who hunger for justice with good things, but those who think themselves rich He sends away empty. He receives all true Israelites, and performs in them the promises which He gave to the fathers. This hymn is repeated by the Church every day at Vespers, in praise of the work of redemption, begun by the incarnation of the Son of God in Mary. Would that every Christian, since he becomes one only by Christ being, as it were, born in him, might share those feelings which the Blessed Virgin and Mother has expressed in this hymn of praise, and, with the Church, daily praise God for the mystery of the incarnation