The Visitation….When Haste is Not Waste

[Gabriel Garnica]

Today being the Feast of The Visitation got me to thinking about one of my favorite phrases in Scripture, telling how Mary went “in haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth ( Lk 1:39-43). Our society sees haste with a double-edged angle. On one hand, it can mean speed and urgency. On the other hand, however, it implies rash, unprepared action. How often have we rushed out to an important appointment only to find that we forgot an important document or our phone? How many times are we admonished to prepare the night before so that the next morning we will either not have to rush so much or, at least, not pay the price of rash oversight as we rush out the door with a coffee in one hand and disorganized items in our other hand?

In reflecting on Mary’s form of Visitation “haste”, I keep thinking of the first interpretation above, being that of a sense of urgency. As we grow closer to God and Our Lady, perhaps we will become more and more acutely aware of the thirst and hunger we have to be ever closer to both. Maybe that greater awareness will fill us with a desire, an urgency, to seek their company as often and in as many ways as possible.

Given the above, we might see that haste is not waste when that haste is an urgency to seek out, reach out, and find Our Lord and Our Lady. We should feel as if there is no time to spare for this desire which is ultimately the core of what we should be about. In addition, as Our Lady showed us, haste directed in loving charity toward another, irrespective of our own comfort and needs, is certainly haste well spent. On the other hand, haste can become waste if it is directed merely at self or superficial whims and wants whose eternal significance is counterproductive, nil, or negligible. Taken in this context, there is a great difference between rushing to get to church before Mass in order to have time to pray or reflect versus rushing to the store to be first on line to get the latest popular item.

So let us ask Our Lord and Our Lady to inspire and immerse us with Mary’s Visitation haste, that urgency to serve, honor, and bring glory to God. “Later” can often be the potion the evil one uses to push Heaven to the background. Haste toward God and away from that same evil one seems like such a good idea in this world so full of rushing toward superficial noise instead of toward the silence of God.

[Author]

Posts