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Both Mary and Elizabeth accompanied each other in their time of need. As disciples, we are all called to that same art of accompaniment with each other. What do I do to accompany another?
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is about both two women and two men. The Blessed Virgin Mary goes to visit Elizabeth to assist her in her final days of pregnancy. But as she greets Elizabeth, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb—John the Baptist—leaps for joy at the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb. Great mysteries of life are at play here.
The Visitation scene reminds us that we too, participate in God’s plan of redemption. We have all been called to take joy in God’s intervention in our lives.
Until the bitter end Joan of Arc was confident she had remained obedient to God.
A wife and mother offers five new mysteries of the rosary, inspired by family life.
Saint Joan of Arc has been the subject of many plays and books, and her life is riddled with legend. But we know that she was a very spiritual young woman who led the French in battle against the English. In a politically motivated trial, Joan was condemned to death and burned at the stake.
Sometimes we put too much confidence in the strength of our faith in Jesus. We think we believe, and indeed our faith is real, but it can also be weak. Yet Jesus strengthens our weakness and keeps us in touch with the strength of the Father.
The calming effects of water on the human spirit are well known. Clean water is too precious to take for granted; much of the world thirsts for it, and climate change threatens the water supply for the poorest.
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat lived in France during the French Revolution. Concerned about the education of children, especially girls, and feeling a call to the religious life, she founded the Society of the Sacred Heart. The sisters worked for the education of the poor and ran boarding schools for the well-to-do.
At the Last Supper the Lord prays for those who will have to be “in the world.” They are one with Jesus and with the Father. They can expect that the world will not accept them, even as they witness to Jesus there. But they carry the promise of Jesus, that his love will be in them.
