June 1

The Feast of the Visitation is easily overlooked but it always makes me feel an excitement in th the pit of my stomach. Here are two women, coming together, to celebrate and adventure which they are both embarking upon.

As I was thinking about this I realized that it is one of the few - if not the only - story in the Gospels whose characters are entirely female. Out of this encounter comes one of the best loved hymns in the Church - the song of Mary - the Magnificat.

The day has been translated (moved) from 30th May this year so on the first day of a new month we get to think of new things and exciting possibilities. Of covenant and revalation.

Summer is here or nearly here - we have been hanging out at the pool already and the coolers have seen some use. Summer can be many things but it tends to be a slow down for many in some way or another. In the Metro area there is less traffic, there is heat which naturally slows us down - but at the same time we become more social and emerge from out hibernation to cut our grass and spend more time speaking to neighbors and generally being rather than doing.

Mary was both being and doing. She was growing a child but she was waiting - waiting for her time of delivery. Her belly would begin to swell and she would be announcing to the world by her simple presence that she was with child very soon.

So in this more social and laid back summertime perhaps we can wait a little with Mary, perhaps we can anticipate God's gifts to us and revel in them a little. What seeds had God planted deep within us which will warm and turn and grow in this summer sun if we let them - God has indeed seen the lowliness of all God's servants and in us he has put great trust, us he has exalted to sit alongside the humble and meek.