Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Second Joyful Mystery: Mary Visits Her Cousin Elizabeth (The Visitation)


Mary Visits Her Cousin Elizabeth (The Visitation)
No fanfare. No shouts. In anonymity the Mother of God travels to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is found to be with child in her old age. At two very different stages of life, one a young virgin the other an elderly wife. Yet both gather together to celebrate and proclaim the grace, mercy and goodness that God Himself has shown to them. It is good here to meditate on this evidence that God, Our Father, is concerned, moved, and fully aware and present in what seems to be, most certainly to the onlookers, a rather unspectacular event. We, however, can know the power of God Who chose to knit Salvation and Truth in the wombs of two women. In this quiet way God arrives among His people.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

First Joyful Mystery: The Announcement of the Savior (The Annunciation)


Perhaps found in prayer, or about her daily household work, a poor peasant girl named Mary is visited by an Angel named Gabriel. The divine messenger announces to her the intentions of God to bring salvation, through her, to all mankind. Her response, in this unassuming place, has changed the course of human history for all eternity. In her womb the body of Jesus Christ was formed. O Great Humility of God! To be born through the consent of a once unknown peasant-girl. Does this graceful initiative of God still not confound the world?