May 31st is the Feast of the Visitation and the patronal Feast of the Visitation Order.
How appropriate to offer a reflection by an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales on this Mystery.
Fr Joseph F Chorpenning OSFS states about his article:
I propose to continue this line of investigation by examining three major, but neglected, themes of Francis’s theology of the mystery of the Visitation: first, the salvific (Mary’s active cooperation in Jesus’ redemptive mission that commences while He is in the womb); second, the communal (the Redeemer in the womb is welcomed by the community of faith of His nuclear and extended family that is the first beneficiary of His work of sanctification); and, third, the exemplary (in this mystery Mary is the prototype of Salesian spirituality to be imitated by Christians in all walks of life). These themes are salient in three key Salesian texts dedicated to this mystery: Francis’s letter June 30,1610 to Mother de Chantal as their newly founded institute prepared to celebrate its patronal feast for the first time, and his sermons preached on the Feast of the Visitation in 1618 and 1621.
Read the article here: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=marian_studies