on the feast of the visitation

:: clip art by Gertrud Mueller Nelson ::

Mary, the Theotokos, was not a success.  the most spectacular thing she did was to say yes to the angel, an incredible response of courage and faith.

she carried this extraordinarily conceived baby and she went, not to her mother, but to her cousin Elizabeth.  what would her mother have felt about this heaven-sent child?  would she have asked what on earth her daughter had been up to?

Mary carried the amazing babe and went to her cousin Elizabeth, who could see things a little more clearly from the biological distance.  Elizabeth, too, though past middle age, was pregnant and that was another bond.

Mary was young enough to accept the impossible.  we tend to limit ourselves to the possible as we grow older.  if Mary had the courage to take the impossible into her body, can we not have the courage to take it into our hearts?

: Madeleine L’Engle in Penguins and Golden Calves

celebrating this most amazing visit–when the child inside Elizabeth gloried at the coming of the child inside Mary–with chile verde and candles.  then a walk (in the rain?) to the library after dinner.  strawberries, those sweet tongues of fire, with ice cream for dessert.