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, “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, and 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 forever.”
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Is selfless love still relevant today?
Selfless love is a rare virtue
nowadays; what we have now is the me first or self- centered attitude of love,
self-care or self-love they say. Before we give ourselves to others we see to
it that we are first taken care of. It’s our need first before the needs
of others we seldom become a person for others anymore.
We thus overlook the fact that when
we are selfless we make others alive, joyful and happy. We bless others when we
give something out of ourselves. And we often overlook that the blessing that we
give silently comes back to us in many forms and shapes.
The Blessed Mother is not like many of us;
she is very concerned with the welfare of others than her own wellbeing. Notice
how the Blessed Mother even if she was also pregnant during that time went to
her cousin Elizabeth and stayed there until she gave birth. She made sure first
that her cousin would be through with her delicate pregnancy before she left
her.
In this day wherein many of us are overly
concerned with our own happiness, social media exposure and fulfillment the
Blessed Mother gives us a valuable lesson to live by.
She tells us not to be overly concerned
with our own welfare. We must look after those who are in need of our love even
if we ourselves need love. Who are those who badly need our love and care? The
Blessed Mother and Elizabeth are both mothers so for obvious reasons first and
foremost it’s our mothers.
They are slowly getting old and we may not
know it they may quietly leave this world anytime. Let us give our very own
mothers our love while they can still appreciate it. What would it cost us if
we express our love for our mothers? Nothing except a very little fraction of
our pocket, voice and time. And what will be the effect on them? Oh,
immeasurable! It will energize and reinvigorate them to say the least.
There are many who are in need of
our love these days they may not say it but they need it. We must look after
them even if we will not gain any material things from doing it. Truth be told,
life is never measured by ownership of worldly things; life is measured by our
selfless acts of love, care and kindness.
On this Feast of the Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary let us look at the Blessed Virgin Mary’s very real and
selfless expression of Agape love. And let us ask ourselves this question:
Do I love as the Blessed Mother loves? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
