The Feast of the Visitation

“The staying of the Mother of God quiets the human mother. The angel could calm Mary with just a few words; Mary, as a human, must proceed more slowly; she calms Elizabeth by staying with her. But she has learned from the angel how one gives peace. She knows from her own experience that the [...]

Pentecost and Mother Mary

I was thinking about how lovely it was that this year Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming to fill all those who were enclosed in a room with the Blessed Virigin, coincides with the secular day we celebrate Mother’s Day in North America.  In “Handmaid of the Lord”, in the chapter entitled “Pentecost”, Adrienne von Speyr [...]

Feast of the Annunciation

“Mary’s meeting with the angel is like the summation of her entire preceding life of contemplation.  It is the first thing we learn about her.  We do not know who she is, we do not know her past.  But when we learn that she saw the angel, the whole composition of her soul becomes visible.  [...]