FRIENDSHIP ON THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION
Originally published by Blessed Is She
We were on our usual weekend double date when Angie told us she was pregnant, her first. I was pregnant too, four months, my second. Our husbands beamed as we chatted about symptoms and cravings, hopes and dreams as preparations made their way to our due dates. Four months after I gave birth to my son, Hannah entered our world, giving us plenty of reason to sing. Songs have been such an integral part of my relationship with Angie. As long-time music ministry members, they have strengthened our friendship through our common love for worship.
And here, beholding those angelic lips and precious hands, as new songs filled the room, something unexpected happened. Hannah was diagnosed with jaundice, contracted a severe infection and was immediately isolated. Suddenly everything was falling apart. The stress and anxiety of a new mother only added to nursing challenges, delaying Hannah’s progress. We were grieving and desperate for relief.
One afternoon after praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, something crossed my mind. The doctor made his regular visit and I probed the possibility of nursing Hannah every day. He immediately agreed, explaining how this was common in Middle Eastern cultures with large families. Angie and I rushed over and I held Hannah. Her latch was immediate and our relief indescribable, almost sacred. I could feel my body unclench with deep sighs and stillness as hot tears flowed. In a few days, we were home, carrying with us a memory that could best be described as our own personal “visitation” moment.
The feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary invites us to look deeply into this dynamic of love, this innate capacity inside us women to draw others’ out of despair into joy. As Mary and Elizabeth meet, Saint Luke reveals that there is more going on than just a happy family reunion. There is history being made as their stories intersect: the younger one Mary pregnant with the Christ Child and Elizabeth carrying His forerunner, John the Baptist. Both pregnancies are challenging. Both are miraculous.
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