The Visitation’s Lesson on Friendship
Parenthood can make friendships a lot more complicated. If you have or have ever had young children, you know what […]
Parenthood can make friendships a lot more complicated. If you have or have ever had young children, you know what […]
When I was a little girl, the closet in my bedroom had a back door. You pushed through clothes, unlatched a hook, and behind the door was a dark tunnel: a slanted crawl space that ran the length of the house.
Today we celebrate the Visitation of Mary. The Visitation is when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John (the baptizer). I like to think about this holy friendship—this time of mutual support and love for each other.
There were exactly two snowballs in my south Louisiana childhood, and they didn’t fall from the sky in Baton Rouge. They rode down from Ohio on the side of our neighbor’s station wagon, and took their shape when she scooped them and gave them to wide-eyed children who had never seen snow.
Mary does not have a gender-reveal party with a surprise color of cake–teenage pregnancy has always been hard–but she does seem to have a wise friend, and having a wise friend seems to make all the difference. I’ve been thinking about wise friends lately.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation, when Mary goes to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth after accepting the call to carry and give birth to Jesus. Just why do we celebrate this event? Where’s our place in the story? Let’s find it.
Today, as we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we honor all the embraces throughout history between women through whom God is still at work.