The Feast of the Visitation

Today is the day that the church remembers Mary's visit to her kinswomen Elizabeth. I've often pondered what those days were like for Mary. First the annunciation, where she is told impossible news, but accepts it willingly, and then the journey to see Elizabeth - a woman who is full of understanding as to what Mary is going through.

I've pondered them enough, that I've fictionalized the events and written them down and posted them at my other site: Ponderances. Aptly enough, one is called The Annunciation, and the other is The Visitation. And yes - they will be followed by The Nativity. Eventually I hope to cover all the mysteries of the rosary.

So, if you have a minute, please, go read and hopefully enjoy.

Following Him

Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10-11)

They just left everything and followed.

Pretty big leap of faith.

Could I do it?

I'd like to think I could. But then, I think if Jesus asks were to come and ask this of me - I would know he was someone who could be trusted. I would know he was God.

They didn't know Jesus was the Son of God. They didn't know he would rise from the dead. He was a preacher; a teacher. He worked miracles and told stories. He lived an itinerant life, with no visible means of support - he didn't appear to be pursuing a career as a carpenter at this time.

And yet they left everything and followed him.

They left families.

They left jobs.

They left houses.

And for what? A period of time on the road - living on what people donated; a period of time on the run from the authorities after their leader was executed, and ultimately horrific deaths.

This couldn't have been an easy decision to make. There weren't a lot of items in the plus column. But they did it anyway.

Could we?

In thinking about this once, I thought about Simon Peter's wife. What would she have had to say about all this. And I wrote a story about her called "The Fisherman's Wife."

Note: I had always figured he must have a wife, because he had a mother-in-law - but just the other day I was reading something about Plymouth Colony and learned that "father-in-law" was sometimes said when what we would refer to as "step-father" was meant. Perhaps that was true in Simon Peter's case as well - since no wife is ever mentioned.