Feast of the Visitation of Mary by Caitlin G.

Guest blogger today is Caitlin G., a young woman in my upcoming book, Can You Text Me Directions? Such a beautiful post from a beautiful heart:

Guest Blog Post, for Friday 5/31/13:

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of Mary! Wow, what a day to get to guest blog. And so we hear the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth:

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever."

Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Luke 1: 39-56)

Beautiful, just beautiful.  In this story of the Visitation, we see that Mary, full of joy at the work God has done in her, in giving her the ultimate gift, the gift of Jesus in her very womb, goes with haste to share the good and exciting news to Elizabeth!  After humbly accepting the gift that God desired to give her, and letting go of all fears that would have naturally come with such a gift, she desired nothing more than to share the overflowing and abundant JOY that came from bearing Jesus!  I’m sure it wasn’t easy.  Can you imagine the fears Mary must have dealt with?  One main fear comes to mind; “What will people think of me? Will they believe me, will they judge me?”  Do these fears sound familiar?  I can bet that every single one of us battles this fear pretty often in our own lives.  But Mary didn’t let this very legitimate fear (of other people judging her for claiming to have miraculously bore a son, as a virgin, who would be the Savior of the world) get in the way of her sharing the good news!  Jesus doesn’t give us gifts and expect us to keep them to ourselves.  He wants us to accept the gift of His JOY and bring it to EVERYONE we meet! 

And what is Elizabeth’s response to Mary sharing her joyful news?  “For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”  The infant leaped for joy at the presence of Jesus and Mary!  This response of joy is the only response appropriate to someone carrying the genuine love of Jesus in them, with humble and selfless intentions.  If we carry Jesus to those who we meet, with pure hearts, desiring only good for these people, only love for these people, then what other than JOY can be the response?  Jesus tells us: “I am all joy…I am all love!”  In the May 2005 monthly message that we just spent the month reflecting on, Jesus asks us to share the news of Him in the world, and He asks us to do so with a peaceful countenance:

“Be at peace, dear children of heaven. There is no reason for anything but a peaceful countenance. I am working in your soul if you are allowing Me to do so and you will come closer and closer to Me. You see that I am calling you to do this. I want you to behave like Me and even to think like Me. You will be gentle and kind to those you meet in your day and they will then consider what it is that makes you different. And there is a contrast between those following Me, and those following the world. The closer you come to Me, the greater the contrast. I would like to see a multitude of souls drawing closer to Me. You can help with this project because you represent Me. I am calling everyone and I use each of you to do this. So be My voice in your world and cry out to your brothers and sisters. Tell them of My love for them and tell them of My wish to draw them closer to Me. If you allow Me to work through you, I will do so. If you practice loving all souls and being merciful to all souls, soon you will be speaking My name to them. You understand that if you are not merciful and kind, it will not matter what you say because souls will be repelled. It is only through your love, inspired by Me, that they are moved. So be gentle as I am gentle and souls will be drawn back into the safe pasture of My Sacred Heart.”

What can we fear if we truly desire to love others with the heart of Jesus, and the joy of Jesus?  Apostles, we have received the gift of the joy that comes from Jesus, have we not?  The natural and only logical response to this gift is to now go out and share it with the world.  Let us surrender our fears to Him, asking Mary to make us like her.  Jesus needs us to be His voice in the world, the voice of unconditional love.

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Thank you, Lord, for such beauty and wisdom in Caitlin. I am so blessed to be part of a mission surrounded by young people who love You with all their hearts. 

God bless,

Bonnie