One of my favorite saints is Francis de Sales (1567-1622), French bishop of Geneva, Switzerland. During the Protestant Reformation, his down to earth practical spirituality was inspiring and relevant and remains so today. He along with St Jane de Chantal (1572-1641) founded an order of cloistered sisters called, The Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary. Their example was to emulate the Gospel story of Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth. Once Mary discovers from the angel that her cousin Elizabeth is with child at an advanced age, Mary goes in haste to greet her and be with her as Elizabeth prepares to give birth to John the Baptist. It’s interesting that when Mary visits Elizabeth, she leaves and travels a considerable distance to the hill country to be with Elizabeth, but the Visitation Sisters are cloistered, they do not leave their convent, people come to them to visit. So why do Saints Francis and Jane name their religious order after the Visitation? What were the Sisters to learn from this image of Mary visiting Elizabeth in her need?
St. Francis de Sales writes, “The most holy virgin “arose quickly, full of concern” (Lk 1:39) and went to visit Elizabeth to show us the promptness with which we must correspond with divine inspirations. Indeed, when the Holy Spirit touches a soul, He drives out all forms of laziness and tepidity-defects that often give us trouble in our spiritual lives. He dearly loves diligence and promptness in all that concerns the execution of the Divine Will.” The Visitation is more than just two relatives visiting with one another. In the Visitation we encounter need and concern for one another. We encounter charity and love for those we care about. We encounter true hospitality as Elizabeth welcomes Mary and Mary offers her time and resources to Elizabeth. As St. Francis DeSales states we encounter promptness and diligence overcoming sloth and laziness that can affect our spiritual lives. DeSales and DeChantal foresaw a host of spiritual advances in the example of the Visitation that the Sisters could advance in their spiritual lives.
What about us? How can these spiritual attributes permeate our lives this Christmas season? We will be doing a lot of visiting and gathering at family homes and Christmas parties, but will we carry with us a sense of charity, love and concern for one another as we go about our way to celebrate the birth of Christ? May we be examples of hospitality to those we encounter and may the example of Mary and Elizabeth illuminate our lives during the Christmas season.
