Gospel: Luke
1:39-56
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.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Would you
exert effort to give a relative a surprise visit? Many of us are very busy that
we hardly have time for this kind of noble effort. But if many of us have no
time to reach out to our relatives the Blessed Mother always has time.
Just imagine
the Blessed Mother travelling for days on a donkey while pregnant just to give
cheer to her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Who among us would do that? Perhaps
only a few because many of us have no time.
We have
already allowed this world to dictate upon us to always get busy with things of
this world. Get busy at the expense of strengthening our bond with our friends
and relatives? Yes, when we allow ourselves to become overly busy with
worldliness. The tie that binds us to our friends and relatives take a backseat
and this is not good.
But not the
Blessed Mother for she is an extra ordinary Blessed woman who is always full of
love, care and compassion towards her relatives and to us also. The Blessed
Mother never thought of her own safety and her own predicament (Because she was
also pregnant at that time). She braved the very long distance and the stress
on herself just to give herself to her cousin Elizabeth.
How many of
us are still willing to forget ourselves just to visit our relatives and
friends to make them happy with our presence? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment