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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Day 23: Mary Hidden in Advent--The Visitation

The Visitiation, Giotto
Day 21:  The Visitation

     Read The Jesse Tree, pp.75-77.  Hang ornament (sandal).
     Mary travels to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, in the hill country of Judah.

     Scripture reference:  Luke 1:39-80

     Comment:  Our Lady is no longer so "hidden", is she?  Now, after waiting for thousands of years, we see her, walking down the dusty Judean roads, carrying the promised Messiah in her womb.  Even though she knows she has many trials ahead of her, she puts the needs of her kinswoman ahead of her own worries.  Mary is our example of charity and mercy to others in need.
 
Related Title:  Mary, Mother of Mercy
Icon of the Holy Mother of Mercy
Once, the confessor told me to pray for his intention, and I began a novena to the Mother of God. This novena consisted in the prayer "Hail, Holy Queen" recited nine times. Toward the end of the novena I saw the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus in her arms. ... I could not stop wondering at His beauty. ... I heard a few of the words that the Mother of God spoke. ... The words were: "I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy, and your Mother" (Diary of St. Faustina,330).

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope,
To thee do we cry, poor banished 
children of Eve, to thee do we send up
our sighs, mourning and weeping
  in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate, 
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and 
after this our exile show unto us 
the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
 promises of Christ.



Lots of information about St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy devotion here.
For an MP3 download of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (traditional music), go to this site.

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