+JMJ
Last Saturday was the First Saturday of the month. It was my second time accomplishing the First Saturday Devotion in my whole life. It had always been a bucket list item, but life just always seemed to get in the way.
One of the requirements for the Devotion is to meditate for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the rosary. The devotion is dedicated to the Holy Mother so I chose to meditate on the Visitation.
It was during this meditation that the Lord increased my love for Our Mother Mary.
The Visitation
During those days 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.” -Luke 1:39-45
I imagine Elizabeth working in her garden. She is carefully picking flowers and putting them into a basket. It is a bright sunny day. A gentle breeze blows the laundry hanging on the line.
She stands up straight, as Mary calls from within the house, pressing her hands to her stomach smiling. Mary appears at the doorway into the yard.
She is radiantly beautiful. But even more beautiful is the serene glow from her abdomen. Elizabeth immediately drops to her knees in adoration. Consumed in the angelic radiance radiating from Mary.
I longed to be showered in that light too. I longed to be covered in the warm intensity of it. I longed to be engulfed in the brilliance of it.
It reminds me of a lantern. In the way that a lantern would protect the flame within. In the way, a lantern shelters the flame within. In the way, a lantern focuses the flame within. In the way, a lantern illuminates the darkness.
She is the shield of the light. She harbors the light. She is the distributor of the light. It is through her that the light was brought into the world to crush the darkness.
Lamp On a Lampstand
As these things are revealed to me my thoughts go to the simile of the lamp on the lampstand.
No one who lights a lamp hides it away or places it [under a bushel basket], but on a lampstand so that those who enter might see the light. The lamp of the body is your eye When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad then your body is in darkness. Take care, then, that the light in you not become darkness. If your whole body is full of light, and no part of it is in darkness, then it will be as full of light as a lamp illuminating you with its brightness.” -Luke 11:33-36
This describes exactly what I felt from Mary in this contemplation. Her body is completely filled with the light, and it shines through her. From her. She illuminates the darkness and conveys the graces of the Lord to us.
This contemplation showed me the honor that we are to give to His mother. We are to put her on the lampstand so that we may see the light of Christ through her.
Thrive in Jesus, my Friends!
Has Jesus touched you through His Mother? What ways do you honor her in your life? I would love to know! Leave me a comment!