The
Visitation
Fruit
Of The Mystery:
Love
Of Neighbor
The
following meditations are provided to assist you
while praying the Holy Rosary. It is offered in a
format where a question is posed to lead the
meditation and then is followed by an answer below
it. It
may be more helpful to grow in your meditation
skills if you try to contemplate the question while
praying this decade of the Rosary, and view the
possible answer upon completing the prayers for the
Mystery.
The
meditations below offer possible answers to
questions regarding these Mysteries.
Because the Wisdom of God is infinite, there
are limitless insights that one may gain from
meditating repeatedly upon the questions surrounding
these Mysteries.
There are no wrong or right answers when
praying the Holy Rosary in this way.
We are simply seeking to be inspired in our
understanding of who Jesus is and how much He loves
us, as the Holy Spirit gently guides us through
reflective prayer.
For
many reasons it may be difficult to engage our minds
to enter into meditating on the Mysteries at hand.
An alternative option is to simply meditate
upon the meaning of the core prayers of the Holy
Rosary as you are praying them.
You may find these reflections on the Our
Father, the Hail
Mary and the Glory
Be prayers to be helpful during these times.
The
Perfect Disciple
1.
Why is Mary known as the first and most perfect
disciple?
As
Mother of the Church, Mary was also the first
Christian. She
was the first to adore Jesus as God, and being
without sin she worshiped Him throughout her life on
earth in a most perfect and holy manner.
We see her Christian virtues and discipleship
shine in her actions immediately after Jesus was
conceived in her womb. After being filled by the Holy Spirit and forming Jesus
within her, she quickly goes out and preaches the
good news of God’s love and mercy.
Mary did this in her actions, as she was
moved to visit her aged cousin Elizabeth and help
out with her pregnancy.
We see the impact of her Christian love
immediately, when her cousin Elizabeth was moved by
the Holy Spirit to prophesy and bless others in
return.
2.
What kind of great things does Mary do in her
first witness as Christ’s disciple?
All
Mary does is bring Jesus, quietly and silently
within her, to Elizabeth.
Sensing this is enough for Elizabeth, which
in turn moves her to pour out love and blessings, in
this case upon Mary.
Just the presence of Christ within Mary
allows the Lord to work through Elizabeth, who
speaks inspired words of love that would be recorded
in Sacred Scripture and prayed in the Hail Mary
prayer for centuries to come.
So what did Elizabeth have to do to be such
an important vessel?
Nothing, just be.
Elizabeth was simply in the exact time and
space that God willed her to be, as she heard Him
calling her into seclusion during her pregnancy.
And because she was obedient to His plan, God
inspired her words and moved her by His grace to be
His vessel of love which would impact ages to come.
Giving
Glory
to God
1.
How do we respond to others when they thank us
and praise us for good works?
How does Mary respond to Elizabeth?
Mary
teaches us how to respond when serving others to the
praise and thanks they offer us.
In all humility she simply gives all thanks
and praise and glory back to Our Father from whom
all blessings come.
When serving God by helping others, we should
be mindful that it is not as much the work we are a
part of that is good, but the work of Love that He
shares through each of us that is to be celebrated.
Recognizing
God’ Loving Plan
1.
Why was Zacharias struck mute?
Was it simply a punishment for questioning
Gabriel?
In
considering our Majestic God’s providence, we see
how all things truly do work together for the good
of all who serve Him (Romans 8:28).
Zacharias was struck mute certainly for his
own good, as he needed silence to prepare for his
extremely important role of fathering and mentoring
John the Baptist.
But it was equally for the good of Elizabeth.
As she secluded herself from the public, she
was driven into further silence and solitude by not
being able to listen to or communicate with the only
other person she was surrounded by- her husband
Zacharias. This
played a critical role in sharpening her listening
skills for recognizing the Savior who her son was to
prepare the way for.
The significance of this time of silence
echoes throughout eternity as she recognizes Jesus
within her cousin Mary and greets her with the words
of the Hail Mary: “Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
2.
What clues did Elizabeth have to help her
recognize that Mary was carrying the Messiah within
her womb?
Being
that Zacharias and Elizabeth did not tell anyone
about the encounter with the Archangel Gabriel, as
she hid her pregnancy from the public, Elizabeth
must have considered Mary’s visit to be one of
Divine circumstance. This ‘sign of the times’
may have helped her recognize and piece together
what John the Baptist was telling her as he leapt in
her womb. Elizabeth’s
ability to observe and interpret the signs around
her was certainly nourished by the silence
surrounding her pregnancy.
It is in learning to be quiet and be aware of
the signs in our lives that we too can learn to
recognize Christ’s presence in others.
3.
When we think we are serving God, who is really
reaping the benefits?
It
is all for you.
Though the fruit of this mystery is love of
neighbor, it truly is about God’s love for us.
For service is a way to protect us from
pride, and to perfect the expression of the graces
with which He fills us.
We see this in the Visitation after Jesus is
conceived within Mary. Filled by the love of God, and eternal grace Himself, she
makes haste to express this love in gratitude by
serving her aged and now pregnant cousin.
All lofty thoughts of pride in her new role
as Mother of God would be placed below the needs of
Elizabeth and her family.
4.
Why did Christ move Mary to immediately visit
her cousin Elizabeth?
What can we learn from Jesus in this
instance?
Jesus
had just arrived in Mary’s womb and He immediately
begins to go to work by inspiring her to visit
Elizabeth. Just
as He longs to give each of us the joy of His
presence, as soon as He takes flesh on earth He
wanted to be shared with Zacharias, Elizabeth and
His cousin John the Baptist. Christ encourages us to continue this mission by sharing His
hope, love and joy with those He places in our
lives.
5.
Often we think of Advent as a time of peace and
quiet to prepare for the Lord.
Is this how it was during the first Advent
when Mary carried Jesus within her womb?
Mary’s
advent and preparation to give birth to the Son of
God was anything but quiet or silent exteriorly.
Consider that she leaves immediately after
the Annunciation to assist her cousin Elizabeth in
her pregnancy of old age; she would also have to
bring the news of her own unexpected pregnancy to
her future husband Joseph, and her family; she would
have to get ready to be a first time mother in her
tender teenage years; she would have to come up with
money for taxes imposed by the Roman authorities and
travel for days across rugged terrain to Bethlehem
late in her pregnancy; not to mention the everyday
challenges of life.
This doesn’t sound very restful, but
unquestionably Our Father was preparing His precious
daughter Mary to overcome the many challenges she
would face later in life, and to realize how little
everything else matters besides remaining in the
presence of Jesus- serving Him, loving Him and
adoring Him alone.
6.
What are the benefits of meditating on the
mysteries of God?
In the Visitation, does Mary have time to
contemplate His mysteries?
If so, what effects does it have on her
relationship with God?
It would have been at least a four-day journey from
where Mary lived in Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home
in Ein Karem. Mary
is often portrayed in the gospels as pondering the
things that she witnessed, and most likely this was
the case after the Annunciation.
During her journey Mary must have spent much
time praying and
contemplating the incredible mystery of
salvation that she was now such an intimate part of. We see the fruits of her prayer when she first encounters
Elizabeth. Words
of praise and gratitude began to overflow from her
Immaculate Heart, which reflected everything she had
prayed about during her journey. The more grateful we are for God’s blessings in our lives,
the closer we draw to Him in all humility.
We are more open to seeing the blessings in
our lives, both great and small, when take time out
of our busy schedules to think and pray about His
immeasurable love for us.
7.
Why did Mary make haste to leave to visit her
cousin Elizabeth?
Mary
was so in tune to God’s Will for her life, that
she was able to recognize His desire for her to
visit Elizabeth through Gabriel’s message.
Because Our Blessed Mother was abandoned to
her own selfish will, when Gabriel mentioned that
Elizabeth conceived a son in her old age, Mary was
able to hear God’s subtle gesture for her to help
her cousin out in her time of need.
In her sole desire to please God, the Blessed
Virgin immediately left Nazareth to assist
Elizabeth.
The
Ark of the New Covenant
1.
How does Mary represent the Ark of the New
Covenant?
Looking
at several Old Testament passages we learn how the
original Ark of the Covenant prefigures Mary and her
visit to Elizabeth.
Firstly, the original Ark of the Covenant
housed the Ten Commandments, the staff of Aaron
(which represented the first High Priest), and manna
(bread which rained down from Heaven in the time of
Moses). Mary
is considered the Ark of the New Covenant because
she carried within her womb, or “housed” Jesus;
He is the One who would fulfill every letter of the
law of God in His Being, He is the High Priest of
Heaven, and He is the Bread of Life which came down
from Heaven to feed us with His Flesh and Blood in
the Eucharist.
It is also interesting to note in II Samuel
6:2-16, that the original Ark of the Covenant made
its way to the hill country of Judea, and was
greeted with leaping and the joyful salutation:
“how can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
As Mary makes her way to the hill country of
Judea, John the Baptist leaps in his mother’s
womb, and Elizabeth salutes Mary with a blessing and
exclaims, “how is it that the Mother of my Lord
should come to me?” From these examples it becomes
clear that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, as
she carries Jesus who would shed His Blood to create
an everlasting Covenant to restore the wounded
relationship between God and mankind.
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