Praying with Mary and Elizabeth’s Visitation
Opening Song: We Shall be Known
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLUQmJsu0Jk
End song at: 1:05 after “In this great turning, we shall learn to lead in love”
Prayer to the Holy Midwife (author unknown)
Holy Midwife, you rejoiced at the birth of creation.
We hold up to you the intuited mystery of something being birthed in us.
It has no face, no name, no sound, no shape.
We know only that something unperceived
is meant to come to life inside the womb of our deepest selves.
Is it greater depth or valuable clarity?
Is it a whole new way of being?
We fail to understand what it might be.
Our knowing is as faint as the light of the new moon.
We know we must trust in your unfailing care.
You will be attentive to the unnamed one who struggles mightily to be released in us.
Help us to be attuned to the contractions of our spirit:
to relax when we ought and push when we must.
Encourage us to believe in what we cannot see.
Be by our side as we await the mysterious new life,
still curled up inside our pregnant spirits.
Let us have faith in something good slowly taking shape and
be trusting enough to stay in the birthing process.
Let us be willing to endure the sweat and groans
and to cheer wildly when new life comes bursting forth. Amen.
A Reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke 1:39-52
Narrator: In those days, Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country. There, she entered the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her child leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit! Elizabeth exclaimed with jubilance:
Elizabeth: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why has this happened to me, that the mother of God's Anointed One comes to me? As soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to you by a messenger of God.”
Narrator: And Mary sang.
Mary:
She Who has power to open the womb
has done great things for me.
Holy is Her name.
Her mercy flows
through mother to daughter
trom generation to generation.
Her maternal strength
strikes at the root of evil,
and it departs.
She pushes the proud
from the pinnacles of power
and lifts up little people.
She feeds her hungry daughters,
but those who are filled to the brim
with opportunity,
She sends away.
She soothes all those who turn to Her,
remembering Her compassion,
keeping Her promise to
Her progeny forever. (by Miriam Therese Winter)
Narrator: Mary remained with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned to her home. The Gospel of God.
Praise to you, Jesus the Christ.
Visio Divina
Image Credit: The Visitation by Ministry of The Arts
Intentions
Closing Prayer
Thank you, Divine Love, Author of All Life, Source of All Connections, for calling each of us – for planting your Spirit deep within us – and leading us to You and to one another. Thank you for being with us always, in all ways. Come Holy Midwife and be with us as we carry Jesus into this world. May we know your love more intimately and share your love more abundantly. In the name of Jesus we hope and pray and trust. Amen.
Going Deeper
For more reflections about The Visitation and ways to pray with these women, visit Rev.AndreaGrace’s blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.