Ponder and Magnify: A Rosary Podcast

S4, E5 - The Visitation Bible Study (Luke 1: 39-56)

• John and Jessica Helling • Season 4 • Episode 5

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The mission of the Ponder and Magnify Podcast is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. Join us as we dive into the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary! In this episode, Jess, John, and Fr. Hecktor discuss the account of the Visitation from Luke 1: 39-56. May we all be in Heaven one day! Praise be to God!

Jessica:

Hello, and welcome to the Ponder and Magnify podcast, where our mission is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the Rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. I am so happy that you are here. Welcome, everybody. On this episode, we will be jumping into the second joyful mystery of the rosary, the Visitation. I'm joined here again by John and Father Hecktor, and we are looking forward to the discussion ahead. Come, Holy Spirit. Father Hecktor, would you open us up in prayer?

Fr. Hecktor:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, in coming to us, you brought us a wonderful salvation. You brought us wonderful hope in the darkness of sin. We thank you, Lord, for our blessed Mother, who, after saying yes to you, brings the joy of God with us to the world by visiting her cousin. We thank you, Lord, for her, for the joy she brought to him, for the joy that we can now experience, knowing that God is with us in the world. We make these prayers through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jessica:

Johnny, what do you feel thankful for?

John:

I am thankful that in my my day of doing my best Clark Greswald impersonation I didn't fall off any chairs or ladders getting decorations up. There's no you know, surges of power and you know, no fires were started. So feeling thankful that we got Christmas decorations and Christmas lights up, and there was you know, we're no worse for the wear. So it's a success. So how would you Father Hecktor? What are you thankful for?

Fr. Hecktor:

I'm just grateful now you brought up Clark Griswold. So I feel like I'm in the right place now. We grew up in that movie, love that. That's a lot of fun. Uh I am grateful for the parish. Again, today we had a all the snow, and people still showed up for mass. They showed up to set up Advent decorations. Some of our eighth graders showed up to replace the breaking bread hymnals, those kinds of things. So I'm just grateful for the parish family we have and the faith that is demonstrated so wonderfully, that inspires me so wonderfully. Jessica, how about you?

Jessica:

I actually was gonna say the same thing, Father. Particularly in this mystery of the Visitation, which I feel like just brings forth the joy of friendship and community and just kind of allows for meditation on that, I'm also feeling so thankful for our parish community. And um, I'm part of a group that's helping with an Advent by Candlelight that we're putting on for the women in the parish. And someone on our text thread uh was making a joke like, Oh, should we just build an apartment building on campus of St. Justin since we're up there all the time, yada yada. And another person on the thread said, It's my happy place. And I just love that we have people in our parish who are so willing to serve each other, and that from that it can be a happy place for all of us. So yeah. Kudos to the parish.

Fr. Hecktor:

Heck yeah, I'd say the same thing.

Jessica:

All right, Father, will you read our scripture for the Visitation?

Fr. Hecktor:

This is a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. 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. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, 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. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. And Mary said, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness. Behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age on those who hear who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones, but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever. Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Jessica:

All right. After taking time to stop the recording and just pray, meditate, John, what stood out to you?

John:

I was kind of viewing it through a lens of just like the gift of family and and close relationships that we have, whether biological family or friends that feel like family, how even just Mary's voice caused the baby in Elizabeth's womb to leap for joy. And I just think what that reunion must have felt like and just the kind of the leap for joy that she had in her heart. It was just making me think of like my family and my family that's already in heaven. And like when we talk to God, does like our relatives that have gone before us, are they like leaping for joy? And that there's like, yes, like come on, like let's let's go, we're getting closer. And just seeing that, just signs pointing towards that reunion. But that that's kind of what was sticking out to me this go-around hearing this passage. What stuck out to you guys?

Fr. Hecktor:

Yeah, every time I read this, so this is this little canticle that Mary says here. This is called the Magnificat. Another uh she says, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. There is another translation, my soul magnifies the Lord. So the magnificat. Every evening at evening prayer, any clergy, priest, deacon, bishop, bishop, priest, deacon, any women religious, they pray this every night at evening prayer. And part of that is we make the sign of the cross when we say, so I almost did it when I was uh uh reading this tonight, just kind of out of out of habit. But I love that my soul, everything that Mary is, my soul down to the very being that I am, my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, the greatness of God. When I was a kid, I loved, I was fascinated by stars and the universe, and I still am. Just the the vastness of space. I forget how far the nearest star is, but if it was reduced to the size of a period at the end of the sentence, it would be like eight miles away or something like that. You know, just the vastness, the greatness of the whole universe. And there's a creator behind that. My soul proclaims the greatness of God. I magnify the Lord. I mean, just the acknowledging the greatness of God, Mary, realizing that God would come to her in such a way and be present among us human beings who are just specks of matter in this grand universe. What an incredible thing. And she acknowledges that my soul magnifies the Lord. I proclaim the greatness of God. I hope I and all of us try to recognize how great our God is, how we are so minuscule in this universe, this grand universe, and yet we're still beloved by Him. He cares about us, He does not want us to be in darkness and sin. He wants us to have light and joy and peace and every good thing that he offers to us. He loves us, he knows us in this great, vast universe. He loves us that much. And Mary acknowledges that. My soul proclaims his greatness, magnifies God. Just this the acknowledgement of how great and amazing and powerful and all-present every everything that he is that we can't comprehend. She acknowledges that. And I hope we do too. Try to comprehend the greatness of God and how he still knows each one of us and loves each one of us so deeply.

Jessica:

I like that this is an example for us too of a prayer of praise. And if we're struggling to find our own words of praise, I love that we can pray this prayer, and our praise can be like unified with Mary and unified also with our clergy, which is really cool to think about and those who are praying the liturgy of the hours. And um, in the last few days, the responsorial psalm has been from the book of Daniel, and it's all about praising God. And I loved the day it was freezing, and one of the lines was "Cold and chill, bless the Lord." I was like, oh, this is so appropriate. But I've really been thinking about praise and these last few days in my prayer life. And I really feel like the fruit of praise is peace and joy. At an earlier point in my faith journey, I remember thinking, does God really need us to tell him like how good he is? Like I was thinking that our praise was doing something for God and failing to recognize that our praise actually is for our own good. And just when we can praise God and acknowledge his goodness, his greatness, the security we have in him, in his providence, but that actually leads is to a deep abiding peace for us. So our praise of God leads to our peace, and joy flows from that. This whole concept of John the Baptist leaping for joy, one of my big things from my college experience, one of the most important things that I learned was the difference a professor taught me between joy and happiness, and how happiness can be dependent on our external circumstances, and therefore it's fleeting. And so often we're striving for happiness and looking for a change in our external circumstances. Whereas a joy, and it's so cool to think about and meditating on these joyful mysteries, but joy comes from an internal union with the Lord and can exist no matter what our external circumstances are. So we can be suffering greatly, but still feel the joy that comes from that eternal perspective, which really we're reminded of when we praise God and acknowledge who He truly is. So I don't know. I've just really been thinking and praying about praise in the last two days. And I love this magnificat. What stuck out to me was verse 43. "And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Elizabeth speaking to Mary. And I thought about this in the context of my own prayer. Like every time I make the sign of the cross and call on Mary, like she is coming, she is coming to me too. And so this can be my what Elizabeth is saying can also be my words and just a realization of how amazing it is that God, he didn't keep his mother for himself, but shared his mother with all of us. And not only does she come to me when I pray to her, but she also claims me as her own and provides, provides through her intercession and her praying with me for what I need. Um, sometimes I don't even realize what I need, and she's praying for it for me. Just the gift that we have in our mother and just kind of the realization of that through that question. And I love, I love that Elizabeth here is filled with the Holy Spirit thinking about what you were saying earlier, John too, and just the Holy Spirit we saw in the Annunciation overshadowing Mary, we see here again being woven in through these joyful mysteries. And I love that it's with the Holy Spirit that Elizabeth is able to recognize Jesus and recognize the presence of Jesus and recognize Mary in relation to that. And just how you were talking, John, about the beauty of like relationships and how this mystery can really cause us to meditate on that. I was thinking, like, how cool would it be as a prayer exercise to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the gifts of people that you're in relationship with so that you can affirm them in their God-given gifts and in the way God is calling them. I just think that's that's such a beautiful thing that this mystery offers. I just imagine like Mary walking in and she doesn't really explain herself, and then the Holy Spirit gives Elizabeth the wisdoms of what she affirms in Mary. And I just imagine Mary being like relieved to a degree of like, okay, I'm not going crazy. Someone is recognizing the way the Lord is acting in my life. And I think there's no greater gift we can give someone than reminding them that they are they are a child of God and so cherished and loved and gifted by the Father. So that was another thing that kind of came to my mind.

John:

Yeah, I think the last part's always interesting too, and that, you know, how people can surprise you, but there can just be the littlest of windows or doors if you leave open or ask people about their faith. I don't know, just some sort of creation of of a welcoming space, and then people kind of take it.

Jessica:

I think that's truly wise, John, because I feel like a lot of times the pressure to like evangelize is like, oh, we have to be talking about Jesus or whatever. But you're totally right, like just being a welcoming space or creating the space for that to happen and going off of this joy thing too. I once had the privilege of being in, it was for youth ministers, and I was a teacher at the time, but I had a friend who was helping run this webinar, so I got to get on the webinar, so I got to get in on it, and it was with Archbishop Rosanski, and it was a bunch of youth ministers and me who snuck on to the call. And someone asked him, like, we are caring for the youth of our archdiocese. What what is important to you that we teach them or show them? And he said, just be a witness of joy, and that can be the most powerful way to draw people to the heart of Jesus, is just make them curious about your joy. And so I like that, John. That it's you know, a welcoming invitation and also a witness to the joy of a life with the Lord.

Fr. Hecktor:

Yeah, that joy is not not just jumping around and you know, clapping and and and singing and dancing. It can be that way. That's awesome if it's that way. But uh it can be, it come, it comes in the form of patience with others when they frustrate us. It comes in the form of caring and helping when when they need help. There's so many ways that that that joy is is pronounced as uh expressed. And I think the way that we Christians can do that is by consistently trying to demonstrate Christ to others. That's the joy we have. We we recognize there's there's something, there's some peace that we get from knowing Jesus Christ, knowing He came to us, knowing He saves us from the eternal darkness of sin. And we show that to others by the the the good things that we do, the good, kind, caring things that we do. Yep. I'm not always smiling or laughing or anything like that, and some priests are and some people are. And it's kind of like can I say it's kind of irritating sometimes, especially when you're not having a good day. And I admire them for that, because they're probably maybe they're not having a good day either, but nevertheless, they're still smiling and they're upbeat. And I really admire that because I again not everything's perfect for them either. Um, but um, but they yeah, they they have that that that joy, that peace they express, and that inspires others to be drawn to Christ.

John:

Yeah.

Jessica:

And I I think joy, especially in the midst of suffering, when you can see a person a nd know that they're suffering, but they're they are holding on to a peace about it, oh that can be especially powerful for me.

Fr. Hecktor:

Yeah, there's someone in our parish she's smiling all throughout mass. And I said one time, "I'm pretty sure you you don't always feel like smiling". And she said, "Yeah, not always," but she still does it because she's in the presence of Christ, and it's really beautiful to see that, and it inspires me to want to draw closer to Christ and have that that express that same joy that she does.

Jessica:

That's beautiful. Well, John, father, anything else to add about this?

Fr. Hecktor:

Nope.

Jessica:

Okay.

Fr. Hecktor:

I'm all talked out.

Jessica:

Well, thank you, Holy Spirit, for the gift of this conversation. And um please, yeah, we just ask for you to inspire a joy in our hearts and a peace that comes from just total dependence on the Lord and knowing that He is caring for us and working all things toward our eternal good. And we say thank you for that. And we ask all of you to be praying for us. We promise to be praying for you. May we all be in heaven together one day. Praise be to God.

Fr. Hecktor:

Amen.