Friday, December 4, 2020
![images[1]](https://thenoontimes.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/images1.jpg?w=329&h=285)
The Visitation
Once again we have a familiar story which we might take time to read quite slowly, verse by verse. It is the encounter between two waiting mothers, Mary and Elizabeth. Both are astonished at the presence of the child growing within. Mary because she has yet to sleep with a man and all she has to believe is the word of an angel who appeared to her suddenly. Elizabeth because of her advanced years and the words of her husband Zechariah who became mute after an encounter in the Temple. Both women have been irrevocably changed forever and they recognize something new in the other. Both women are open to receive the significance and the full impact of their great encounter. We wonder . . . do they know that for millennia so many of us will read the day of their encounter?
God says: You are constantly meeting important people and yet you do not see that this is so. You are too often expecting to see someone who is famous or wise in the eyes of the world and so you miss the encounters with those who are famous to me. The lonely co-worker who eats lunch alone, the quiet relative who never makes “interesting” conversation, the endless string of people who wait on you in this holiday season. Once you allow your eyes to rest on them, once you smile and pause in the rush of your day . . . perhaps you will see why these people are so special to me. Perhaps you will experience an encounter that will change your life forever.
If we move through our days in happy anonymity, content to let others speak rather than extend and share our own good ideas, we might consider the importance of the encounter we read about today. What salvific news might we be missing when we become part of the background? Do we not carry with us the presence of God? Are we not as important as others? Take time today to consider the power of speaking up and stepping out.
If we take all the space and the air in any room we enter, happy to take over, take charge and take control, we might consider the importance of pausing in our extroverted rush to be known. What salvific news might we be missing when we brush people aside? Do we think that our words speak more loudly than our gestures and actions? Are not the other people in the room as important as or even more important than we? Take some time today to consider the power of listening and observing.
For another Noontime reflection on Luke 1, enter the words The Encounter into the blog search bar and explore.
The Feast of the Visitation is celebrated in the U.S.A. on Memorial Day, May 31, of each year. Click on the image above for a Morning Prayer as we reflect on this special occasion that has so much to say to us, or go to: http://dailyoffice.org/2010/05/31/morning-prayer-5-31-10-visitation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-usa-memorial-day/
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