Visitation 2012

On this feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we Dominican nuns are encouraged to reach out to and visit with our sisters in the active realm. We can do this primarily through prayer, and we will be offering special prayers for all our active Dominican sisters in the Texas area and throughout the United States and the world today.

Fr. Paul Murray, OP (who gave us a fantastic retreat some years ago) explains beautifully about the Visitation in his book Door into the Sacred: A Meditation on the Hail Mary. He writes: \”To our astonishment, we discover that it is in the poor, in those who need our help, that the Lord is waiting to fill us with the knowledge, the joyful knowledge, that we are loved. And this knowledge is knowledge that heals. If we, who know ourselves to be wounded in some way, make an effort to help others who are suffering, if we \’share our bread with the hungry\’ and try to \’shelter the homeless poor\’ or make a visit to someone in need like Mary, then, according to the prophet Isaiah, not only will we experience enlightenment of some kind, but \'[our] wound will quickly be healed over\’ (Isaiah 58:6-8). And why? Because in those who are most in need of help we will meet Christ himself.\” Sometimes we don\’t know when another person is in need, because their deepest needs are hidden from human eyes. But we can always take time to perform act an act of kindness–and who knows what effect that will have on both of us? Today let\’s try to find out!