Homily on the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 31 May 2023, Talamban
I am happy to be back with you. There is really no place like home. Thank you for your prayers. As you can see I am safe, sound and smiling. On my part while I was away, I kept remembering you in my prayers especially in the holy places of Don Bosco both in Valdocco and in Colle Don Bosco where our course on Spiritual Accompaniment was held. I also remembered you and your intentions when I was in the Holy Land especially in Jerusalem where Fr Provincial sent me to represent him and our province during the perpetual profession of Br Jhon Robert Andales, SDB.
Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s visitation to her elderly cousin Elizabeth. In the gospel passage we have heard today we are made to recall what happened that day. We know that prior to that event, Mary, known as the virgin of Nazareth, had just offered her total and generous YES to the angel who announced that she would become the mother of the Divine Redeemer. And amazingly after that, Mary did not go out boasting among her neighbours about the singular grace and highest honor she had received, as many young people would do today using social media. She, instead, opted to go silently in haste to see her elderly cousin Elizabeth who, like her, had been blessed with a child after long years of waiting.
We all know what happened next when she arrived at the house and greeted Elizabeth. Their meeting became a wonderful exchange of blessings and at the same time an explosion of pure joy. In fact as soon has Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the baby in her womb leapt for joy. Certainly only mothers would know what this really means, for only they have ever experienced having a baby moving inside their womb, sometimes even kicking or tumbling for real who knows for what reason. In the case of baby John in the womb of Elizabeth, there could only be one reason. He must have felt the strong positive energy coming from the presence of the baby Jesus being carried in the virgin womb of our Blessed Mother. Truly the joy that is shared is joy multiplied and magnified. Have you ever felt jumping and dancing for joy in real life because of a big blessing you have received from God or a significant someone you have met in life? Or have you ever made someone jumping for joy because of what you have said or done for him/her? And ask yourself where God might have been in that situation.
On my part I can’t but remember and thank God for what had happened to me these past two months. Part of the course I attended were guided visits and study tours in the holy places significant in the life and mission of Don Bosco. In Valdocco (Turin) I saw not only the places where Don Bosco began his work for poor and abandoned youth but I also felt I had an intimate encounter with Don Bosco himself. I felt his presence. I felt his spirit still so much alive especially in the Salesians who continue his mission of education and evangelization among their students and countless young people who go there for pilgrimage coming from various parts of Italy, Europe and the world. Above all I felt I was breathing the air of holiness as I marvelled at the awesome presence of God and of our Blessed Mother within the walls of the majestic Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, and similarly inside the Shrine of St Francis de Sales and inside the Pinardi Chapel where many of our Salesian saints gathered daily to pray and celebrate the liturgy.
I felt the same way when we went to Colle Don Bosco where Don Bosco was born and grew up (35 kms away from Turin). It was precisely there where my co-participants and I had our weeklong guided retreat in total silence packed with prayerful moments and intimate encounters with a God who loves tenderly and mercifully. Our God experiences took place not only in the daily celebration of the Eucharist but also in the contemplation of the beautiful nature around us and in the Scripture passages that our spiritual guides would suggest for us to read reflectively and prayerfully. That was only the second time that I have experienced such a Spirit-filled guided retreat. And for me it felt so refreshing, so enlightening, and so nourishing to the soul. To borrow some words taken from today’s Responsorial Psalm I feel like saying: “with joy we have drawn water at the fountain of salvation… for among us was the great and Holy One of Israel.” And with Mary I can also say “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” Indeed I felt the power of your prayers accompanying me while I was there. And so from my bottomless heart I thank all of you and I offer this Mass for your intentions.
Finally allow me to re-echo what I have already shared in Ratisbonne last May 24. In one of the inputs of our course on Salesian Spiritual Accompaniment I learned that the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth can be a good model for personal spiritual accompaniment. Mary went to Ain Karim not to boast of her new role as Mother of God. Neither did she go there to complain about the burden of responsibility she was carrying in her womb. She went there in order to share her God-experience to an elderly cousin who on her part also had her own God-experience. In that encounter Mary began to speak from her heart while Elizabeth tried to listen with her heart. At the end both of them recognized the grace-filled presence of the Lord acting and moving in their lives. While Elizabeth responded to Mary’s greeting with a blessing, Mary burst with joy singing a beautiful hymn blessing and thanking God with her “Magnificat.” Joy shared is joy multiplied and magnified.
In this Holy Mass I pray that you too may one day leap for joy at encountering God for real, and that you may find someone with whom you can share your “God experiences”; someone you can trust to accompany you spiritually in your life’s journey. For those among you who have kids or will soon have kids I pray that you too may become good spiritual guides to your children and to other young people whom God will send to you. Finally may our Blessed Mother, the Help of Christians, accompany us always and keep us under the mantle of her tender care and powerful protection so that we may always be safe from both physical and spiritual dangers at the same time filled with God’s abundant grace and blessings. GiGsss!
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