Feast of the Visitation

The Visitation is one of my (many) favorite feasts.  Galadriel was named after this Feast. 
Immediately after Our Blessed Mother gave her Fiat to God and had conceived the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, she made haste out of Divine Charity to be with her Cousin Elizabeth who was already heavy with child.  Our Blessed Mother merely said, "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word" and was off to act with not one thought for who she really was... the Mother of God.  Here was The Woman who was bearing the Son of God not spending even one moment to dwell on this, what humility!  At the moment she was together with her Cousin, St. John the Baptist lept in the womb of St. Elizabeth.  It was at that moment that he was cleansed from original sin by the power of the God-Man. This is the first known moment where Our Blessed Mother was the channel of Grace.  Elizabeth's eyes were open by the power of the Holy Spirit and she recognized the long-awaited "mother of my Lord".  To which Our Blessed Mother then gave her beautiful Magnificat: 
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
 Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because He that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is His Name....

As an aside, this is also the feast of the 2 soldiers who were the guards of the prison where Sts. Peter and Paul were imprisoned together.  The guards were converted and baptized and then died martyrs. 

Rain

I know that I know some pretty good prayer warriors out there.  We need some rain.  A whole lot if the truth be told. About 4 inches of rain.... but... not all at once. :D 

And since today is the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, she would be a good one to pray to!  Incidentally I was reading about her today, she is also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succor.  The 2 Angels are Michael and Gabriel and they are holding the items to implement the Passion of Our Lord.  The Greek Letters are the abbreviations for the words "Mother of God", "Jesus Christ", "Archangel Michael" and "Archangel Gabriel".  Our Lord is clinging to His Mother (a fear of the Crucifixion as indicated by the instruments of the Passion).   The part of the picture that intrigues me the most is the dangling shoe of the Christ Child so I had to read about that. In the Old Testament, the symbol of removing one's shoes was one of being ready to be treated as a slave or servant. (I could not help thinking about St. John the Baptsit and his statement that he is not fit to loose the sandal strap of He Who is to come... not fit to loose the sandal of The Slave. Something to think about there)  But Our Lord gave his "Fiat" inspite of the natural human fears, "Not my will but Thine be done."  When times are hardest, cling to your Mother and give your "Fiat".  Yes... be it done unto me as You Will.  Be His slave by accepting the stripes.  Plus... what are you going to do about it anyway?  Might as well accept all that comes...  you know it's coming! :D