Neighborly Love

Homily for the Feast of the Visitation

It might bring home to us much of the significance of this feast if we simply call it “the visit” rather than the “visitation.” The term “visitation” may have its purpose: it gilds the event and suggests something more than merely human. But “visit” has value in making this feast something that can have more relevance in our ordinary lives than if we leave it at “visitation” and simply marvel at what the biblical characters are doing. The second option for the first reading fleshes out this idea. It commands us and urges us to a similar neighborly behavior, like Mary’s kind initiative in visiting a pregnant relative who, Luke tells us earlier, was, along with her husband, very old. For instance, we hear in that reading: “Love one another with mutual affection, anticipate one another in showing honor.” We may have heard over and over again that we need to love one another, but that doesn’t lessen its appropriateness.

Indeed, the way you describe yourselves on your webpage fits nicely into the human dimensions of this feast: “We are Franciscan Sisters, merciful, joyous, and poor, doing works of neighborly love.” All twenty of the admonitions contained in this passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans speak to the nature of neighborly love and provide us with a veritable roadmap to the destination of living neighborly love.

Another way to regard this particular feast day is to recognize the fact that it is the first time in the Gospel of St. Luke that he speaks of our vocation to proclaim the Good News to others. With the Annunciation, Mary’s “yes” leads to the arrival of Jesus into the world. Today we remember that Elizabeth recognized Mary as the mother of God. The Annunciation and the Visitation can be regarded, therefore, as the first two important steps in the salvation history in the new era.

The third consideration we must give this feast day is Mary’s Song of Praise which has become part and parcel of the fabric of our own prayer life. Mary not only verbalizes this prayer of praise, she herself is the example of what it means to proclaim the greatness of the Lord with one’s life. Her fidelity to God led her to say “yes” when the angel approached her to usher in the new era in salvation history. One way for each of us to examine our consciences at the end of the day is simply to ask: “Did my actions today proclaim the greatness of the Lord.”

Here at this holy table, God is present with us. We are empowered to do great things as the body of Christ. When we are finished with our liturgy, we will be sent forth to proclaim God’s goodness with our lives. May we look to Mary’s example to live as disciples of the Lord.