The Visitation - Love of Neighbor

 

The Visitation

Fruit of the Mystery: Love of Neighbor

In the course of the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel informs Mary that her older relative Elizabeth, a woman who was believed to be barren, is also expecting a child. Mary then hurries to the hill country of Judea to help her. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb (John the Baptist) leaps for joy when the two women meet, and Elizabeth becomes the first person in Scripture to testify about the coming of the Savior. “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?” (Luke 1:42-43).

Mary, even though she was young and newly pregnant, didn’t hesitate to rush to Elizabeth’s aid. Travelling from Mary’s home in Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home in Ein Karem was not an easy journey. The distance was about 100 miles and would have taken three to five days depending on whether she was travelling on foot or by caravan.[i] She exhibited a true love of neighbor and willingness to serve.

In our own lives, we can struggle with being of service to others. It is easy to come up with a list of reasons why we can’t help someone. We might feel we don’t have enough time or enough money or that we don’t have any skills that might be of use. Yet, each of us can do something.

There is someone in your life who is in need right now. It might be someone you live with, someone in your neighborhood or church community, someone you work with, or someone you know online. Ask God to show you how you can best love that person through an act of service and then follow through and do it.

In meditating on this mystery of The Visitation, let us pray that we may love our neighbors and be of service to them.

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[i] Philip Kosloski, “Mary traveled a highly dangerous path to visit Elizabeth”, Aleteia.org, May 31, 2019, https://aleteia.org/2019/05/31/mary-traveled-a-highly-dangerous-path-to-visit-elizabeth/

 

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