Mass Reading & Meditation for May 31, 2013 + Saint of the Day Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading 1ZEP 3:14-18A Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals. OrROM 12:9-16 Brothers and sisters: Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Responsorial PsalmIS 12:2-3, 4BCD, 5-6 R. (6) Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel. God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation. R. Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel. Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name. R. Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel. Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth. Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel! R. Among you is the great and Holy One of Israel. GospelLK 1:39-56 Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.” Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. Meditation: Luke 1:39-46 The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. (Luke 1:47) Today imagine you are Mary, taking the long journey to visit Elizabeth’s home. You are filled with joy as you walk along, thinking of all that God has done for you: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior! To be blessed with a child is truly wondrous. But that I would become the mother of the Messiah is an honor beyond reckoning. As you allowed your servant Hannah to conceive the prophet Samuel even though she was barren, you have promised the same to me (1 Samuel 1, 2). But I have conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit! I cannot understand how this is so, but still I delight in doing your will, O Lord! “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior! I praise you, Lord, that through me you will lift up all the lowly of the world. Not only those without bread, but those without hope, without peace, and without love. I praise you that generations to come will look to me as the most blessed of all women, someone who will point the way to their Redeemer. Thank you for allowing me to become the ark of the new covenant, a covenant that will last forever. “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior! As you used Jael and Judith to defeat Israel’s enemies, you will use me to defeat our greatest enemy—sin (Judges 5:24; Judith 18). Through my son Jesus, you will bring freedom to countless souls who have been held captive by Satan’s lies. I am amazed that a child of my own womb is destined to bring healing to the sick and justice to the oppressed!” What is your meditation right now? You too can say, “The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49). He has given you the incalculable riches of his grace, eternal life in his Son! So fill your heart and mind with these truths, and then let new words of blessing flow from you to your heavenly Father. “Thank you, Father, for saving me from sin and death. I give glory to your name, Jesus, for having rescued me. May I never fail to praise you for your salvation!” Zephaniah 3:14-18; (Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6 Visitation This is a fairly late feast, going back only to the 13th or 14th century. It was established widely throughout the Church to pray for unity. The present date of celebration was set in 1969 in order to follow the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and precede the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24). Like most feasts of Mary, it is closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. The more visible actors in the visitation drama (see Luke 1:39-45) are Mary and Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist steal the scene in a hidden way. Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic salvation. Elizabeth, in turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and addresses words of praise to Mary—words that echo down through the ages. It is helpful to recall that we do not have a journalist’s account of this meeting. Rather, Luke, speaking for the Church, gives a prayerful poet’s rendition of the scene. Elizabeth’s praise of Mary as “the mother of my Lord” can be viewed as the earliest Church’s devotion to Mary. As with all authentic devotion to Mary, Elizabeth’s (the Church’s) words first praise God for what God has done to Mary. Only secondly does she praise Mary for trusting God’s words. Then comes the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Here Mary herself (like the Church) traces all her greatness to God. Comment: One of the invocations in Mary’s litany is “Ark of the Covenant.” Like the Ark of the Covenant of old, Mary brings God’s presence into the lives of other people. As David danced before the Ark, John the Baptist leaps for joy. As the Ark helped to unite the 12 tribes of Israel by being placed in David’s capital, so Mary has the power to unite all Christians in her Son. At times, devotion to Mary may have occasioned some divisiveness, but we can hope that authentic devotion will lead all to Christ and therefore to one another. Quote: “Moved by charity, therefore, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman.... While every word of Elizabeth’s is filled with meaning, her final words would seem to have a fundamental importance: ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord’ (Luke 1:45). These words can be linked with the title ‘full of grace’ of the angel’s greeting. Both of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about Mary, who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because she ‘has believed.’ The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift of God himself. Mary’s faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the visitation, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift” (Blessed John Paul II, The Mother of the Redeemer, 12). -- Have a Blessed Day
Posted on: Fri, 31 May 2013 12:43:04 +0000
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