Waiting with Mary [Part Two]

Mary, Queen of Craftsmen and the Son Whom God crafted within her body

Miracle of Incarnation
Upon the miracle of the Incarnation, Mary's heart flooded with joy the thought of the imminent arrival of the Christ Child.
  As events turned out, He was not born in Bethlehem and His early childhood was spent as a refugee in Egypt.
  Was it likely, though, that Mary would have expected her child to be born in a stable housing animals?
  Her husband Joseph was a carpenter. Surely in Nazareth he must have built a cradle for the child with love, expectancy and the finest wood he could afford?
  Of course Mary wove and fashioned small blankets for it. She carried linen binding cloths carefully packed in readiness for the child's birth.
  Preparations for Jesus may not have been costly, but we can be sure they were made to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Anticipation
  What was it like for Mary, that period of anticipation?
We know that she did not become absorbed in her own preparations to the exclusion of the needs of others.
  In her poem 'The Visitation', Sister Liguori OP wrote about Mary's concern for her elderly pregnant cousin Elizabeth.
  She told how when Mary entered Elizabeth's house, Elizabeth's own unborn son John, the future John the Baptist, leaped in his mother's womb.

THE VISITATION
Mary hastened over the hills
And never a word spoke she,
But the flowers knew, and they curtsied low
To the Mother of God to be.

Mary stepped softly through the town
Guarding her gladdened eyes
But the palm trees nodded knowingly.
And the wind hummed lullabies.

Mary tapped gently at the door
And spoke in a sweet low voice
But when she entered an unborn babe
Knew her and leaped to rejoice.

Dr Luky Whittle

Song of Elizabeth to Mary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syPaavhpnhU

Mary and Elizabeth rejoice together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4c9r-OYKow


Image by Rev Catherine
With thanks to Youtube