fr. JLucas+. May 31, 2025

Our lady of Visitation Makadara Parish @JogooRoadNairobi2025

Today we celebrate the feast of the Visitation, our Blessed Mother to her cousin Elizabeth. The meeting of these two ladies was a joyful and unique event. Both found themselves pregnant in unusual circumstances. Elizabeth, in her old age, after long suffering from infertility, and humiliation by society as a barren woman, and Mary was believed to have been pregnant by the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:39-56). 

The visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth is the second joyful mystery of the rosary. Today is the feast of my parish back home (Our lady of Visitation, Makadara) and the Monastery of the Brothers of the Missionaries of the Poor. This visitation of Mother Mary to Elizabeth reminds us to change the lives of those we visit with our visit. The above places, OLV Makadara Parish and O.L.V Monastery, changed my life.

While we choose to visit beautifully those that we love and relate to, let us, like Mary, bring joy. Joy is the contagious fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy is not experienced when we are happy, but in times of hardship and pain, we should have glimpses of joy. For the joy of the Lord is my strength, Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us.

To share this beautiful visit and share the joy of the Lord we have to ….

1. Forget Yourself 

• Sometimes we can be turned off from the idea of helping others when we are struggling ourselves. Mary reminds us to pour out and to give even out of our necessity. 

2. Be an Ambassador 

• Mary was the first evangelist. She carried not just Jesus, but also she did carry good news to Elizabeth. 
• As you visit, don’t carry just the “news” but the Good News, bring Jesus to those you go to visit rather than being a gossiper about what happened in the community and share the good news of how the society is developing with kindness. 

3. Say a Blessing  

• …and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
• Use blessing words to those you visit.