Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
      May, the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ends with a feast of Mary.  May 31st is the Feast of the Visitation, when Mary goes to spend some time with her relative Elizabeth as she prepares to give birth to her son John the Baptist.                                                                           Just prior to this visit, Mary had a visitor of her own: the angel Gabriel came to ask Mary to be the Mother of the Son of God.  After saying yes to this announcement, Mary heard that her relative Elizabeth, who was advanced in years, was expecting a child of her own.            The lives of these two sons, each conceived in a miraculous way, were to be intertwined.  John was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.  Jesus was to usher in the Kingdom of God.  He would speak of God’s love for us and eventually suffer and die for our sins.         
                    Mary and Elizabeth, Carl Heinrich Bloch (c. 1870)

   Mary went to be with Elizabeth.  Mary lived in Nazareth; Elizabeth lived in Ein Kerem, not far from Jerusalem.  As soon as Mary greets Elizabeth, John in her womb acknowledges the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb.  The Scripture says that the baby leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth.  Mary brought to Elizabeth a great gift in the last months of her pregnancy.  Mary, a woman full of life and youth was there to give encouragement and help to Elizabeth, an older woman thought to be beyond childbearing age.  But she also brought Elizabeth the presence of Jesus in her womb.  We know that John the unborn child recognized this, but it must also have been a source of hope and consolation for Elizabeth.
I think of significant visits in my own life.  What makes them special is not always about what was done or said during the visit, but just time spent together.  It would have been interesting to sit there with these two women as they talked and prayed together.  Each of them carried a child whose conception was announced and name given by an angel from God.  So I wonder what they did and said.  Perhaps they said things like “What should we have for dinner? What a beautiful day it is!  Would you like to go for a walk?  I think I’ll have a cup of tea.  Thanks be to God for another wonderful day.”  In other words, they probably talked about things that we talk about.
Jesus was present in Mary in a unique and special way.  A way that no one else has ever or will ever experience again. But Jesus is also present in us.  We take him with us in our daily living.  We just are so used to it that we fail to realize how special it is.
Today we celebrate the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, a visit filled with the presence of Jesus.  May this be a reminder that the presence of Jesus is always with us!
Msgr. Cox