Bearing

That bearing – that is the gift of the Virgin.  And THAT is what I pray for the Grace to bear – the bearing of the Virgin – who brings God Himself to me, wearing a cloak of perfect humility…

The Visitation of Mary adn Elizabeth (Jen Norton)

Imagine how the Blessed Virgin must have presented in her everyday life.

She was sinless.  She was humble.  She was kind and charitable.

When she heard the message of the angel she did not try to wait and see what to do, immediately, she set out to go and see her kinswoman.

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!’” (Luke 1:39-45).

And when she arrived, I can imagine how she worked.  She would have got to work cooking and cleaning and washing.  She would have fit into the household with all the simplest more unattractive tasks.  She would have prayed as she worked.  And in that journey of the Visitation, which we remember in the Second Joyful Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary, the Blessed Virgin did not arrive alone.  She brought the Son off God with her.  And TOGETHER they cooked and cleaned and worked.

And she would have known that she was carrying Him inside her womb and that would have changed her bearing as she composed herself throughout the day.

When I was pregnant with each of my children, the idea of that pregnancy, sort of consumed me.  I would find myself touching my own belly or talking to my child inside my head.  I would think about that baby an awful lot.  I would imagine how they would look or sound.  When I lost my youngest little baby when he died before he was even born, I knew him already.  I could see how he would look and smell and sound and feel.  And that was just the knowledge that I had of him from the limited experience that I had.

The Blessed Virgin was like this – but this was no ordinary pregnancy.  Here she was consumed with the Grace of the Son of God.  Here she was surrounded by Angels to guard her way.  Here she was speaking in her mind to God the Son while serving God the Father and loving with the love of God the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity was converged upon her.

And she would have carried herself differently because of the bearing of that magnificence, which was cloaked in perfect humility.

And that bearing – that is the gift of the Virgin.  And THAT is what I pray for the Grace to bear – the bearing of the Virgin – who brings God Himself to me, wearing a cloak of perfect humility…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.