The angel hadn’t told her to go to Elizabeth’s aid but the Holy Spirit did. Mary had proclaimed herself the servant of the Lord. Now she would be the servant of Elizabeth.
With Mary and Elizabeth, God lit two intimate candles, the flame of the one lighting the other a domestic Pentecost.
Why is this significant? Because most of us are not called to be missionaries to the world in the way the apostles were. But we are called to live out a domestic Pentecost. Our mission is right where we are, within our families, in our workplaces, in our communities. Yes, he calls us to be missionaries. Better said, if we have received the Holy Spirit, he will
<p>The prenatal test was inconclusive. The baby growing inside Jill’s womb might be just fine, or she might have lifelong disabilities. Doctors urged Jill to un
God is happy! St. Augustine says that God is happy and makes people happy. Happiness is part of the very mystery of his being. Being the highest good, he is also the highest and infinite happiness. St. Francis of Assisi exclaims, “You are joy; You are . . . joy” in his “Praises of God.”
God is happiness for the very same reason that the Trinity is happy: because he is love. Happiness, in fact, is to love and be loved. God, from all eternity, loves his Son with an infinite love, and the Son returns that love with an equally infinite love. The Father finds “all his pleasure,” that is, his happiness, in him. Since God is happy, he does everything that he does with joy: he creates with joy (see Job 38:7), he saves with joy, and he even suffers with joy.