I don’t remember telling you about this before… I know of a man who, while praying the Rosary, had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He had been walking along a country road. On one side of the road was a piney forest and on the other was a field and a pond. As he was walking, he had been searching for the Virgin, but unable to find her, then in the distance, he saw her walking toward him down the road. He quickly turned and ran to meet her, but—and this is probably funny—the closer she got, the bigger she got so that when they finally met, she was able to reach down and pick him up and put him in her pocket.
He tried to see through the weave in the fabric of her dress to see the outside world and determine where she was taking him, but was unable to. Not only that, but the further they went, the darker it became until all was dark. Yet as the light had lessened, he had been able to detect something new: a sound. At first, it sounded like the soft beating of a drum, but a short distance on, the sound was unmistakable: it was the beating of a heart. He began to not only hear the heartbeat, but to also feel it in his entire body. Each beat was like a loving embrace. It was then the man realized that Mary had done what she had always done: she had brought him to Jesus. You see, it was not her pocket that she had placed the man into. No. Mary had placed the man in the wound in Jesus’ side so that the man could be near the beating loving heart of the Risen Lord where he had learned even more of the great love of Jesus. He had been allowed to remain there for a short time and then was sent on his way to try and fulfill the Lord’s will.
There is always much confusion surrounding the role of Mary in the Church and in the life of God’s people, but that confusion only arrises when people fail to understand her purpose. Her purpose is to draw people in so that she can lead them or even take them to her Son… so that she can place them near His heart that they might know of His great salvific love for them.
I encourage you all to take her by the hand and to walk with her. When that walk ends, you will find that you have been brought to Jesus.
Eternal Father,
you inspired the Virgin Mary, mother of your son,
to visit Elizabeth and assist her in her need.
Keep us open to the working of your Spirit,
and with Mary may we praise you for ever.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
Candle in a Cave 
This is beautiful!
It was beautiful to experience.
I’ll bet it was!
I grew up in a sequence of United Methodist parsonages in rural South Georgia. In Georgia, the dominant strain of United Methodism is, as the old joke says, “Baptists who can read.”
I must have an inherent sense of Catholicism. My sense of history goes hand-in-hand with that spiritual type.
I converted to The Episcopal Church at St. Anne’s Church, Tifton, Georgia, on December 22, 1991. I jokingly told my father that I had “gone onto perfection.” Methodist humor!
I recall the day I realized how Catholic I had become. Near Thanksgiving 1994, I was sitting in a food court in the mall in Brunswick, Georgia. My mother and father were there. So was one of my mother’s coworkers, a Pentecostal. I had purchased some compact discs of Renaissance Catholic music, including some with a Marian theme. My mother’s coworker made a dismissive comment about Mother Mary. I blurted out an affirmation of the Assumption of Mary. I meant it.
I used to be a good Methodist boy.