The Visitation: Spending Time with Mary after Confession

I recently went to reconciliation. It was the Feast of the Visitation.

The Visitation and Confession

For penance, the priest told me to spend some time with Mary that day. Later, when I had some alone time, I started thinking of ways I could do that. I'm not a rosary person. Rote prayer is too dry for me.

So what to do? Read scripture? Then it hit me. I had been in the middle of a book on Mary before lent started (Walking with Mary by Edward Sri), and had not picked it up since. So I grabbed the book and sat down on the couch and opened up to the bookmarked page.

It was the chapter on the Visitation.

Okay. Surely a God-incidence. No longer questioning how I should spend time with Mary, I eagerly read the chapter. Soaking it all in. Each word tugging at my heart strings.

And when I was finished, I found my new favorite Magnificat song called, you guessed it, Magnificat, by Todd Agnew. And, my hands raised in the air, (charismatic or not, I doubt anyone can sing this song without raising their hands to God), I sang the words Mary said to Elizabeth that day.

If anyone had walked in the room, they would have thought I had lost my mind. But I wouldn't have cared.

Best. Penance. Ever.