Make Haste
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Luke 1:39-40
Rembrandt’s The Visitation http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/179/3/a/the_visitation_by_irrlicht71-d6b38j9.jpg
The Visitation follows immediately upon the Annunciation. Mary received our Lord and then set out to visit Elizabeth as soon as she heard that she was pregnant. St. Luke wrote she traveled in haste. She did not hesitate, she did not deliberate, she did not waste any time, she just went.
Saying “yes” to our Lord is a two-part process: we receive Him, and then we take Him to others.. After Jesus was conceived in her womb, Mary took action. She heard that someone was in need, and she went in haste to meet that need. She took Christ, in her very body, to Elizabeth. If Elizabeth had conceived today, she would have been greatly pressured to have an abortion for fear that her baby would have Down Syndrome or some other medical abnormality due to her advanced age. Her baby, St. John the Baptist, would have been one of the “unwanted,” “unplanned,” “inconvenient” cases we hear the abortion lobby tout. Just like Mary, we must help the outcast woman and the the unwanted child by bringing Christ to them.
Sometimes, this duty makes us uncomfortable. It means going out of our way, looking at the gruesome reality of abortion, talking about awkward topics, and going to genuinely disgusting places where the unborn are scheduled to die. It means engaging a culture that does not know God, that even rejects God.
We can overcome this discomfort by forcing ourselves to focus on Christ and the other. Charity does not require us to merely think less of ourselves -- it requires that we do not focus on ourselves at all. God will take care of our needs. All we need to do is faithfully meet the needs of our neighbor.
Charity also requires a certain urgency. Even Christ did not waste any time before doing good on Earth. He didn’t even wait to be born. He went in the womb of His mother to be with his cousin and aunt.
In our country, 3,500 children will die today by abortion. Each one was created in the image of God. When they are rejected, it is as of Christ were being rejected on the cross all over again.
Our love of God and our neighbor compels us to address this moral, spiritual, and physical holocaust. There are many ways to do this. Starting with prayer specifically to end abortion and the Culture of Death (1), we can take decisive action. We can volunteer for organizations that work to end abortion and contraception; we can financially support people and organizations who are fighting the Culture of Death; we can help pass pro-life laws and elect only pro-life representatives to office; and we can raise awareness and invite others to speak out for the unborn.
Let us make such haste as our Blessed Mother did to go into the world to protect children in the womb.
1. This phrase was coined by St. John Paul II to describe our current culture, which values efficiency to the point of rejecting love and life. St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, sec. 12.
How is God speaking to you in this post or today's reading? Enter a comment below or click HERE if you are reading from your phone. (Commenting is optional, but always grace-filled.) Thank you for letting us into your life and for being a part of ours!
Kristina Garza is the Director of Campus Outreach for Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. She grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California and graduated from the University of California Riverside. She has been involved in the pro-life movement since 2008, when a member of the Survivors missionary team convinced her to take a pro-life pamphlet on her way to a university class. She has led hundreds of pro-life outreaches and numerous training events for youth and young adults throughout the nation, including multiple Survivors ProLife Training Camps and the International ProLife Youth Conference, and has spoken at national pro-life events like the March for Life Youth Rally. She enjoys opportunities to speak, present, and inspire at high school assemblies, Confirmation classes, youth and young adult groups, pro-life events, and rallies throughout the nation.
You can contact Kristina at:
Facebook // Instagram // Twitter // Blog
Email: kristina@survivors.la