Wednesday May 31, 2023

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Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

“From heaven, Mary mourns for those who reject her Son, and she laughs for joy with those who delight in the Lord.”

Good News Reflection for:

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
May 31, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving us Your own Mother as an aid to our salvation. Praised be You, Holy Spirit, because Your full presence in Mary reaches us through her intercession. Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
gnm.org/SaintQuotes/

Today’s Readings:

Zephaniah 3:14-18a
or Romans 12:9-16
Isaiah 12:2-6
Luke 1:39-56
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/053123.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-may-31-2023

Being visited by Our Blessed Mother

Imagine what it might have been like for Elizabeth when Mary visited her, as told in today’s Gospel story. Have you been personally visited by Our Blessed Mother? I’m not talking about having visions or getting messages from her. Do you know what it’s like to have a personal relationship with her, in which you experience her motherly concern for you? Because God loves you and wants the best for you, through his power this is possible!

I grew up Protestant. Although I became Catholic in 1977, I couldn’t feel any personal connection to Mary. I listened to what others with more experience said about her, but it just didn’t seem real. I learned to pray the Rosary, but it was boring and less meaningful than my other methods of praying.

After a few years of trying and failing to understand how to experience Mary’s motherly involvement in my life, I gave up and told Jesus that if he wanted me to have a relationship with his mom, he’d have to introduce her to me. A few more years went by.

In 1990, I landed a job as a staff reporter for a Catholic newspaper. One day, I was invited to write about a Marian speaker named Wayne Weible while he toured my diocese. As I interviewed the man who had organized the event, he told me that Our Lady had personally selected me to cover this story. Wow! She picked me? This was not just a decision by my editor? What a thought!

I travelled with Mr. Weible from church to church for my article. I questioned him, I listened to him, I prayed with him. I watched people thank him for his words. Some of them gave him gifts, such as a crucifix and a picture of Mary. Each time, he turned and gave them to me and said, “Your mother wants you to have this.” Really? Mary was giving me gifts through these people?

I was not convinced. She continued to feel like a stranger. I knew about her, but she seemed long-dead and far away. That night before I went to sleep, I told Jesus again that if he wants me to have a relationship with his mother, he’d have to make it happen.

The next morning, I awoke feeling very different. Don’t ask me how it happened, but I now had a genuine understanding of who Mary is to me: that she loves me, knows me, cares about me, prays for me, prays with me, and works to accomplish much good for me. She has been dear to me ever since. She guided me into starting Good News Ministries even before I knew God’s plans for this.

Mary cares about you, too, and every person you know. From heaven, she mourns for those who reject her Son, and she laughs for joy with those who delight in the Lord. She is real. Her love for you is real. She very much wants to have an “Elizabeth experience” with each of us and to praise the Lord with us. She wants us to sing our own Magnificat with her. This is the basis of our relationship with her: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord …. “

Imagine the two of you making this a duet for the Father! “God who is mighty has done great things for us, and holy is his name!”

For more on this, use our prayer, “Our Magnificat: The Greatness of the Lord” @ https://gnm.org/prayers/our-magnificat/.

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