Feast of Visitation
31/05/14 05:28
OK, a short history lesson on an item of church trivia. The Feast of the Visitation is a Christian holiday that dates back to pre-Reformation days. After the Great Schism, some of the orders of the Christian Church began to organize their lives around the gospel story. The Gospel of Luke tells of Mary visiting Elizabeth when they are both pregnant. In the Gospel, Mary leaves immediately after the Annunciation and went “into the hill country . . . into a city of Judah.” The story is not clear about the specific location. Perhaps it was Hebron, south of Jerusalem, or Ein Karem. Elizabeth is expecting the birth of John, a bit of a miracle child in her aging years. When she sees Mary and hears Mary’s greeting, the gospel reports that the baby leapt in her womb. Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to here home. Although the Gospel doesn’t report it, the tradition is that she stayed for the birth of Elizabeth’s son and attended her at the birth.
The dates of all of these things are less than precise. And, of course, this was before the time of Gregory and our modern calendar, so there are adjustments in timing due to the differences between calendars. At any rate, the Franciscans were already observing a Feast of the Visitation prior to 1263. The Franciscan Breviary spread to many churches. Pope Urban VI inserted the feast day into the Roman Calendar for celebration on July 2. He was trying to form a new calendar that would pave the way for an end to the Great Schism.
But July 2 doesn’t really work out in the overall calendar of the Roman Church because in that calendar, John is born on June 24. To get the events in the right order, the date should fall close to the annunciation and before the birth of John. So Pope Paul VI moved the date of the feast to May 31, today, in the Roman Calendar. Of course, Pope Paul VI’s calendar was significantly after the Protestant reformation, so it was not universally adopted by the various churches. To make matters more confusing, some Roman Catholics didn’t like Pope Paul VI’s calendar and continue to use the pre-1969 calendar.
The Feast of the Visitation is today. Unless you use the pre-1969 calendar; or unless you are in Germany, where the Vatican has allowed all congregations to celebrate the feast on July 2. Then if you are an Anglican, it might just be a commemoration rather than a feast day.
So in our corner of the church, which doesn’t adhere closely to the calendar of feasts, we tend to let the day pass without any ceremony or recognition.
At our house, however, it seems like a day to think about unborn babies. We have a new granddaughter who will be born any day now and she seems to be, if not leaping, engaging in some sorts of gymnastics inside of her mother that keep her mom from getting a good night’s sleep and keeps the entire family in alert mode. Being the parents of the father, our visit to the new one will be after the birth to allow space for the mother’s mother to be there for the big event. We have a busy schedule, so it will be a little more than two weeks before we arrive to greet our new granddaughter face-to-face.
In an age of technology, however, we are following the events closely. We receive regular updates by text message and video conference over Skype regularly to keep up with the events of the household and the adventures of our grandson, who is now 3 years old.
So, I am thinking that rather than observe the Feast of the Visitation today, we might enjoy our day as a day of reflection on Joseph and Zechariah. While Mary was off visiting Elizabeth, Joseph is back at home, significantly removed from all of the action, and probably wondering about what he’d gotten himself into. Conversations with angels, a child by the Holy Spirit - there is a lot to take in. Meanwhile Zechariah is literally struck dumb by all of the events and so he isn’t saying a word. He regains his speech at the birth of his son and issues a famous poem according tot he Gospel of Luke. Perhaps he spent the period of his wife’s pregnancy composing the poem, since he wasn’t doing much talking. And he was a priest at the temple, who was not only used to talking, but also to having people listen to what he was saying.
Of course the Bible doesn’t speak much of grandparents. Becoming grandparents is a luxury of longer life expectancies. In our mobile society, however, children often make their homes many miles distant from their parents. And people keep moving around, so that families are spread across the globe and many grandparents, like us, become observers from a distance as the really big events of life continue to roll on.
There is no escaping the realty of the excitement of a birth, however. I find myself thinking about it more and more as the days draw closer.
I’m sure that other families have different experiences, but becoming a grandfather has given me a deepened appreciation for our children. Our son is a truly amazing father. I love to watch him play with his son. Our daughter is an incredible aunt. She has done more than a little bit of shopping for her new niece already. In my memory the days of babies in our home was a time of being a bit distant from my siblings, but in the case of our children they have drawn closer together despite the physical distance that separates them.
Perhaps it is a a triumph of modern communications technology. I’m thinking that Joseph was pretty much left in the dark and without any news whatsoever during the time that Mary was visiting Elizabeth. And we know that old Zechariah didn’t say a word. I prefer the modern rhythm of my vibrating phone announcing the latest update.
But like all of the players in Luke’s report, we are in a time of waiting. There are lots of things in life that are worth the wait. Sometimes the waiting is a pleasure in itself. Joy is coming, and a bit of it has already arrived. Today is a good day for a celebration.
The dates of all of these things are less than precise. And, of course, this was before the time of Gregory and our modern calendar, so there are adjustments in timing due to the differences between calendars. At any rate, the Franciscans were already observing a Feast of the Visitation prior to 1263. The Franciscan Breviary spread to many churches. Pope Urban VI inserted the feast day into the Roman Calendar for celebration on July 2. He was trying to form a new calendar that would pave the way for an end to the Great Schism.
But July 2 doesn’t really work out in the overall calendar of the Roman Church because in that calendar, John is born on June 24. To get the events in the right order, the date should fall close to the annunciation and before the birth of John. So Pope Paul VI moved the date of the feast to May 31, today, in the Roman Calendar. Of course, Pope Paul VI’s calendar was significantly after the Protestant reformation, so it was not universally adopted by the various churches. To make matters more confusing, some Roman Catholics didn’t like Pope Paul VI’s calendar and continue to use the pre-1969 calendar.
The Feast of the Visitation is today. Unless you use the pre-1969 calendar; or unless you are in Germany, where the Vatican has allowed all congregations to celebrate the feast on July 2. Then if you are an Anglican, it might just be a commemoration rather than a feast day.
So in our corner of the church, which doesn’t adhere closely to the calendar of feasts, we tend to let the day pass without any ceremony or recognition.
At our house, however, it seems like a day to think about unborn babies. We have a new granddaughter who will be born any day now and she seems to be, if not leaping, engaging in some sorts of gymnastics inside of her mother that keep her mom from getting a good night’s sleep and keeps the entire family in alert mode. Being the parents of the father, our visit to the new one will be after the birth to allow space for the mother’s mother to be there for the big event. We have a busy schedule, so it will be a little more than two weeks before we arrive to greet our new granddaughter face-to-face.
In an age of technology, however, we are following the events closely. We receive regular updates by text message and video conference over Skype regularly to keep up with the events of the household and the adventures of our grandson, who is now 3 years old.
So, I am thinking that rather than observe the Feast of the Visitation today, we might enjoy our day as a day of reflection on Joseph and Zechariah. While Mary was off visiting Elizabeth, Joseph is back at home, significantly removed from all of the action, and probably wondering about what he’d gotten himself into. Conversations with angels, a child by the Holy Spirit - there is a lot to take in. Meanwhile Zechariah is literally struck dumb by all of the events and so he isn’t saying a word. He regains his speech at the birth of his son and issues a famous poem according tot he Gospel of Luke. Perhaps he spent the period of his wife’s pregnancy composing the poem, since he wasn’t doing much talking. And he was a priest at the temple, who was not only used to talking, but also to having people listen to what he was saying.
Of course the Bible doesn’t speak much of grandparents. Becoming grandparents is a luxury of longer life expectancies. In our mobile society, however, children often make their homes many miles distant from their parents. And people keep moving around, so that families are spread across the globe and many grandparents, like us, become observers from a distance as the really big events of life continue to roll on.
There is no escaping the realty of the excitement of a birth, however. I find myself thinking about it more and more as the days draw closer.
I’m sure that other families have different experiences, but becoming a grandfather has given me a deepened appreciation for our children. Our son is a truly amazing father. I love to watch him play with his son. Our daughter is an incredible aunt. She has done more than a little bit of shopping for her new niece already. In my memory the days of babies in our home was a time of being a bit distant from my siblings, but in the case of our children they have drawn closer together despite the physical distance that separates them.
Perhaps it is a a triumph of modern communications technology. I’m thinking that Joseph was pretty much left in the dark and without any news whatsoever during the time that Mary was visiting Elizabeth. And we know that old Zechariah didn’t say a word. I prefer the modern rhythm of my vibrating phone announcing the latest update.
But like all of the players in Luke’s report, we are in a time of waiting. There are lots of things in life that are worth the wait. Sometimes the waiting is a pleasure in itself. Joy is coming, and a bit of it has already arrived. Today is a good day for a celebration.