I’ve been blown away recently by two key items I’d overlooked with reading or meditating on the Visitation, the moment when Mary and Elizabeth meet and John the Baptist jumps in his mother’s womb.

1) Mary, as the Mother of God — Catholics are often criticized for giving Mary the title Mother of God. It seems other Christians want to see her as only the mother of Jesus. Of course, logically, this is incorrect. Jesus is BOTH fully human and fully God. You can’t separate the two, so if Jesus is God and Mary is the Mother of Jesus, then Mary is the Mother of God.

But, here’s more proof… Did you ever notice that Elizabeth, whom the Bible says is filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary the “mother of our Lord” (Luke 1:41-43)? Sure, you could say that she really is referring to Jesus, who is also called Lord (but let us remember that we cannot separate the Holy Trinity, so that is referring to God, as well). But in the entire passage of Elizabeth’s statements to Mary, she is referring to God the Father. Right there, the Holy Spirit declares Mary the “Mother of God.”

2) Mary as the NEW Ark of the Covenant — Here’s another doozy that really blew my mind when I read it in Denise Bossert’s “Gifts of the Visitation” (Ave Maria Press, 2015). Catholics also call Mary the new Ark of the Covenant, because just as the old Ark of the Covenant carries God, so does Mary with Jesus in her womb. BUT, Bossert points out that there is an Old Testament verse that prefigures the Visitation, which speaks to this even further.

In 2 Samuel 6 (you MUST go read this!), David asks “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” and then is described as dancing and jumping before the Ark. In the Visitation verses in Luke, Elizabeth says, “And how does this happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43) and John the Baptist “leaps” in his mother’s womb. Does that not show Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant? Amazing stuff!

Had you ever thought about these things? Please share your thoughts!

As a newbie to Catholicism or as someone exploring the faith, you will likely find one or more teachings that you just can’t get your head around — or flat out disagree with. Oftentimes, these are teachings like the saints, Mary, purgatory or contraception. Don’t worry about this; you are not alone! Most of us struggle with multiple teachings as we learn more about the faith.

Here are some suggestions to help you if you find yourself stuck in this situation:

1) Keep searching – Read, read and read some more. Listen to Catholic radio and watch EWTN. Look it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Find Bible verses about the issue. Ask your RCIA leader or another Catholic well educated in the faith. Keep reading different explanations and really delve deeply into the whys of the teaching, and I promise, you will find one an explanation eventually that makes sense to you. I found that every issue I did not understand I eventually came to terms with. Several issues for me included contraception and purgatory.

2) Write a petition – I just finished reading “Gifts of the Visitation” by Denise Bossert (Ave Maria Press, 2015), a convert to Catholicism, who explores the Visitation (when Mary and Elizabeth meet and John the Baptist leaps in his mother’s womb) in detail and shares along the way her conversion to the faith. The daughter of a Protestant minister, she felt called to Catholicism after her father’s death, but especially struggled with the Church’s teaching on Mary’s Immaculate Conception. This teaching is that Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb free from original sin.

After many attempts to understand this teaching, her RCIA leader advised her to write a petition to Mary, asking her to show Denise the truth. What a wonderful idea! Here’s what she wrote:

Mary, if you are as the Catholic Church says, and if you love me, please answer this petition. I want someone to communicate with me by your inspiration. Mary, I want the message to come from you to the ears of one who could know no other way. Please choose someone who, for me, would represent the universal Catholic Church. Then I will know I am right where I am supposed to be and that the Church’s teachings are all correct, terra firma, especially the teachings about you. Please answer my petition before the end of the year–I know, that’s just two weeks.

Thinking it unlikely she would receive a response, she was surprised that the day after she wrote the petition, she received a letter from a woman she had written to after seeing her on EWTN’s The Journey Home. The letter, dated Dec. 8 had hand written beside it “The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.” That was her answer.

While God sends me these types of messages and reassurances quite often — now that I’m looking for them! — I too had a WOW moment after praying to my confirmation saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, for a specific intention. Known for sending roses as signs, as soon as I woke up the next morning and stumbled outside to pick up my paper, I opened it to find giant picture of a rose across the whole paper and a story about decorating your home with roses. Thanks St. Therese!

How did you come to terms with a Catholic teaching you were struggling with?