Mary and Elizabeth: Spiritual friends

Mary and  Elizabeth: Spiritual Friends

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child lept in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry,”

Elizabeth: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb,..”

“And Mary said,”

Mary: “"My soul magnifies the Lord,

         and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. “ Luke 1:39-56.

This visit of Mary to Elizabeth in Luke is one of our most descriptive scripture passages about what it is like to be and have a spiritual friend or soul mate, seeking to see Christ in each other.  The response by our neighbor may sometimes be just as miraculous as being able to respond with the joy of the Magnificat.

The story tells us that seeing Christ in our neighbor is a gift of the Holy Spirit. We are to put ourselves in position to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit, then see Christ in our neighbor, and then honor Christ in our neighbor. The Spirit enables us to look and listen for and honor the Christ in those whom we visit.  The promise of this story is that when we reflect the Christ in our neighbor back to him or her, he may also see the Christ in himself and be enabled to live out, and even sometimes sing out, the Magnificat. 

What does it mean to "sing out the Magnificat?"

         "My soul magnifies the Lord,

         and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

         for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant."

The words are very clear.  It is living out a life of gratitude and praise and being open to God working in our lives even in times of great stress.  Our role model is an unmarried, pregnant young girl who is enabled by the love of her older relative to express her faith in her God so eloquently.  The fruit of the spirit which springs forth when we see Christ in each other is gratitude and praise.  This is our sign that we are indeed being open and honoring God in each other.

         What a difference we could make in our own lives as well as our neighbor's if we could each be an Elizabeth to the Marys we daily visit at home and in our work.  When we see Christ in our neighbor, our true self, our God connection within us will also "leap for joy!"  

 Seibert, The Living Church, May 25, 2003

Joanna   joannaseibert.com

Thomas Merton: Mary and Elizabeth 1

Thomas Merton: Mary Elizabeth 1

“Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed." Thomas Merton,  Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, 140-142, Doubleday:1966.

Merton ‘s mystical experience captures what spiritual friend seek to accomplish, seeing the light of Christ in each other. I am reminded of the visit of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to her even more pregnant relative, Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-56. As Elizabeth, carrying John the Baptist, hears Mary's greeting to her, the baby in her womb leaps for joy.  Elizabeth is then filled with the Holy Spirit and greets Mary with the words: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."   Mary then breaks into the song of praise and thanksgiving which we call the Magnificat," My soul proclaims the greatness of the lord."   How wonderful when we meet our neighbor that the creative part within us, the Christ within us, leaps for joy to perceive the Christ within our neighbor.   What does this story tell us occurs in our lives and the lives of our neighbor when this happens?  We are filled with the Holy Spirit and our neighbor is empowered to say or sing or live out the Magnificat.

Some of us are like Mary, just beginning to bear children.  Many of us are like Elizabeth, beyond the child-bearing age.  Some of us have never borne children, but this story of these two saints as well as Merton’s story still speaks to us.  God is speaking to the birthing, the creative part of us which empowers us to see the Christ in ourselves and the Christ in our neighbor.1

1 Seibert, The Living Church, May 25, 2003

Joanna        joannaseibert.com

Schelhammer: Mary and Joseph, refugees

Mary and Joseph, refugees

“As I ponder what these last few days before the Nativity might have meant for Mary and Joseph, I can’t help but see the connection between their journey to Bethlehem and flight to Egypt with the travels of so many refugee families searching for a new, safe home…I know that Mary didn’t have a baby registry set up with Amazon and likely there were no baby showers providing all her newborn’s needs but I can imagine that she was longing for a safe, warm and clean bed and the local midwife’s attentions when her time came.  Joseph, as a carpenter, very likely didn’t have much experience with the women’s work of labor and delivery.  And then, just when the new family might have felt a bit secure, God reveals the danger that they are in should they remain in Bethlehem so off they flee to a new, safe home where they will be strangers, refugees in this new land.  In so many human ways, they were on their own in this endeavor much like the refugees who are longing to come to a country of safety but where everything will be new to them – new languages, new customs, a whole new life.” Judith Schelhammer, chair Resolution Review Committee, Episcopal Diocese Michigan, posted December 22, 2016 on the web site of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. www.edomi.org

My heart goes out to the many refugees in our world just seeking basic safety for their own lives and their family. I particularly have become acquainted with several DREAMERS, those who are undocumented who came with their parents years ago and now are seeking education and status. Their situation is very tenuous. This is the country they know and have grown up in. They have no connection to their country of origin. We would be deporting some of the hardest working groups of people I have experienced, people who already enrich and broaden our culture.

 I try to connect to them in some small way by remembering that all of our ancestors were at one time refugees to this country unless we are native American.

 I also see ourselves in our search for God as refugees often deciding to leave a place or point of view of our origin, seeking more, a larger view of God, a new life, often learning a new language. We step out on roads less traveled. It as well cannot be an easy journey, definitely a sacred adventure where guides can be helpful.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

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