2) THE VISITATION

Life is filled with visits – people connecting with people – people reaching out to each other.

What have been the 10 top or most prominent visits in your life?

What are your regular visitation moments each week?

A neighbor drops in for a cup of tea every Monday afternoon around three – and one cup of tea is never enough.

Co-workers chat and connect at a coffee break.

Friends sit down in the back yard to have a beer on a hot day.

Families get together when a kid celebrates her first communion.

Families come from far and near when a son or daughter plays in a big game or in a school musical.

Thanksgiving is a great time for families to connect and reconnect.

The pope travels to another country.

We go to the 25th anniversary and reunion of our high school class.

We drop into church to pray.

We drop into a nursing home every Thursday to see our aunt or the person we always sat behind at morning Mass.

We go to the funeral parlor to pay our respects to our next-door neighbor’s mom who died.

We bring communion to five people who are “shut in”.

We baby sit for our two grandkids every Tuesday.

We call up an old friend on the phone 2,000 miles away the first Sunday of the every month and we’ve been doing this for years.

A college kid sends an e-mail to a close high school friend every day – because right now they are different colleges – one in California the other in Virginia.

A parish has a team of folks who visit a local prison on a weekly basis.

Three brothers completely surprise their younger sister on her 50th birthday with a spectacular picnic birthday party.

Five farmers chat outside of church in Leipsic, Ohio every Sunday after Mass and their wives and their kids joyfully let them do it – without sitting in the car or van with their arms folded – looking at their watches every 30 seconds. It’s not just ladies who talk after church in Leipsic, Ohio.

In the gospel of Luke we read about Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth down near Jerusalem after she hears Elizabeth is pregnant.

And Elizabeth greets her with words repeated over and over and over again ever since, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

Jesus is near.

Jesus is here.

Be aware! This might be a Visitation moment.