Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

Feast Day of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth on May 31

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”—Luke 1:39-49

Sculpture Mary Visit to Elizabeth, Church of the Visitation, Ein Kerem Jerusalem

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is perhaps our best example of what happens when two people allow the Holy Spirit to intervene in their lives. Elizabeth, late in her third trimester, hears Mary, in her first trimester, greet her. We don’t know what Mary initially says to Elizabeth, but we know it must have been affirming because the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy. Elizabeth is then filled with the Holy Spirit and greets Mary with these words: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." If only we had the courage to say that to each other as we meet. “Blessed are you among women; blessed are you among men.” 

Mary then breaks into the song of praise and thanksgiving, known as the Magnificat. "My soul magnifies the Lord,”

“And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant." If only we had the courage to say every morning when we wake up, “My soul magnifies God.”

Visitation, Barbavara Book of Hours, 1440, Walters Art Museum Baltimore

How wonderful it is when we meet our neighbor, if the child, the God, the resurrected Christ within us, could leap for joy to see the God, the Christ within our neighbor. What does this story tell us will happen in our lives and in our neighbor's life when this occurs? We will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and our neighbor will be empowered to live out a song of gratitude and praise. 

Some of us are like Mary, beginning to bear children. More of us are like Elizabeth, past childbearing age. Some of us have never borne children, yet the story of these two saints still speaks to each of us. It is the birthing of new life within each of us, enabling us to honor the new life in our neighbor.

This is one of our most descriptive passages about being and having a spiritual friend, a soul mate. As spiritual friends, we are called to see Christ, new life, in each other. Our friend's response may sometimes be as miraculous as the joy of the Magnificat. This story shows us how to see Christ, new life, in our neighbor. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit. Our job is to put ourselves in a position to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit, to see Christ in our neighbor, and then to honor Christ in our neighbor. The promise of this story is that when we reflect Christ, new life, back to our neighbor, she may also see Christ in herself and be enabled to live out the Magnificat. 

What does it mean to "sing out the Magnificat”?

"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”? The words are clear. It is about living a life of gratitude and being open to God working in our lives, even in our greatest times of stress. Our role model is an unmarried, pregnant young girl, empowered by the love of her older relative, who eloquently expresses her faith in God. Through the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth sees God in her young cousin. When Mary is open to God within herself and can also see and feel God within herself, her response is this great hymn of gratitude and praise. The fruit of the Spirit, which springs forth when we see Christ in each other, is gratitude and praise. This is our sign that we are indeed open to and honoring God in each other. 

         What a difference we could make in our own lives and in our neighbors’ lives if we each became an Elizabeth to the Marys we visit and live with daily, at home and at work. When we see God, Christ, and new life in our neighbors, the God within us will also "leap for joy" as we meet others on the road to a happy destiny, one step, one person, one greeting at a time!

Joanna Seibert. JoannaSeibert.com

Praying in Color

Praying in Color 

“Here are some reasons to Pray in Color:

1) You want to pray, but words escape you.

2) Sitting still and staying focused in prayer are a challenge.

3) Your body wants to be part of your prayer.

4) You want to hang out with God, but don’t know how.

5) Listening to God feels like an impossible task.

6) Your mind wanders, and your body complains.

7) You want a visual, concrete way to pray.

8) “You need a new way to pray.”—Sybil MacBeth, Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God (Paraclete Press, 2007).

Gifted speaker and retreat leader Sybil MacBeth takes our prayer life from the left to the right brain. This type of prayer is especially easy for doodlers. It can initially be painful for those who live primarily in their left brain—those who are more verbal, orderly, logical, analytical, and methodical thinkers. But praying in color can open a new world of prayer. Those who are more right-brained, creative, imaginative, and artistic will rejoice to find a new way to pray that validates who they are. 

Sybil offers many ways to use this kind of prayer: as intercessory prayer, as an Advent prayer calendar, as a way to memorize Scripture, as meditative prayer centered on a word or phrase, as a method for Lectio divina, as discernment, and more. We start with a simple shape, place a name or word inside it, and pray as we add, decorate, expand, or connect parts to the central figure. This adventure in prayer is recommended for the logical person who is stuck and for the artistic person whose prayer life seems dry and colorless.

If you are exploring new forms of prayer, Praying in Color is a gift from Sybil MacBeth to us.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

The Trinity Continued

The Trinity Continued

Rublev Old Testament Trinity

“Trinitarian theology holds that true power is circular or spiral rather than hierarchical. If the Father does not dominate the Son, the Son does not dominate the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit does not dominate the Father or the Son, then there’s no domination in God. All divine power is shared power.”—Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House), pp. 95-96.  

Robert Farrar Capon says that when humans try to describe God, we are like a bunch of oysters attempting to describe a ballerina. But we can’t help but try, especially as we strive to understand the doctrine of the Trinity, perhaps the greatest mystery of the Christian faith.

At a summer course at Oxford University, a Greek Orthodox bishop, Timothy Kallistos, introduced us to Andrei Rublev’s 15th-century icon, The Trinity, or The Hospitality of Abraham. It depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Gen. 18:1-8) to announce the coming birth of his Son, Isaac. We have interpreted it as a symbol to help visualize the mystery of the interrelationship within the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Each figure is in circular harmony with the others, humbly pointing to one another in mutual love. We miss the mark if we relate only to the Trinity in its separate parts. The Persons are in a community, transparent to one another, indwelling, and in love with one another. They have no secrets from one another, no jealousy, no rivalry. Instead, they teach us how to live in community. Barbara Brown Taylor describes their relationship as the sound of “three hands clapping.” 

The doctrine of the Trinity calls us to a radical reorientation in how we see and live in the world. We are what we are in relationship. The God of the Trinity is not an I but a we; not mine but ours. Our belief in and understanding of the Trinity can make a difference in how we drive our cars, how we fill out our tax returns, how we relate to others of different faiths, colors, and political views; how we stand on war; how we treat the person sitting across the aisle from us, as well as those living across the Interstate and beyond our country’s borders.

Richard Rohr’s and Barbara Brown Taylor’s thoughts are excellent to meditate on when we are in conflict with another person, especially when the Christ within us has difficulty seeing the Christ in that person. 

[See Barbara Brown Taylor, “Three Hands Clapping,” in Home By Another Way (Cowley), pp. 151-154.]

Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by purchasing this book from the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from book sales benefit Camp Mitchell. If you enjoy this book, please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page at https://smile.amazon.com/Daily-Spiritual-Ordinary-Time-Pentecost/dp/B08JLTZYGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joanna+seibert+books&qid=1621104335&sr=8-1

 More thank-yous than we can say!!!

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/