The Visitations of Mother Erica
Preacher: The Rev. Andrew Van Kirk
Scripture: Luke 1:39-57
The Visitation—when Mary travels to see her cousin Elizabeth—isn’t just a heartwarming prelude to the birth of Jesus. It’s a picture of the gospel in motion. A young woman, newly pregnant with the Son of God, hikes uphill for days to serve someone else. She doesn’t wait for comfort. She doesn’t wait for certainty. She simply goes.
And Jesus goes with her.
This is the quiet miracle of the Visitation: that God makes himself present in ordinary places—wombs, homes, conversations, car rides, hospital rooms. As Mary walks, Jesus walks. As she enters the house, he is already meeting the hearts inside.
Every time we bring the sacrament, visit the sick, pray with the grieving, or serve the overlooked, we’re enacting a kind of visitation. And Jesus, by his own humility and by the Spirit’s power, chooses to go with us.
But it also flips the story. Sometimes we are Elizabeth. We are going about our day when Christ arrives through the presence of another. The challenge, and the invitation, is to be ready to say: “Why has this happened to me, that my Lord should come to me?”
You may be tired. You may still be waiting, still hoping. But like Mary, you go with haste. And like Elizabeth, you are met with joy.
Reflection Questions
Where in your life is Jesus asking you to go “with haste,” even before the path is fully clear?
How have you experienced Christ showing up through someone else’s presence?
What does it mean to you that Jesus humbly goes with you—into every home, every visit, every errand?
Are you more likely to recognize yourself as Mary (the visitor) or Elizabeth (the visited) right now?
Where might God be inviting you to pause and rejoice, even in the middle of your exhaustion?
