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Philippe de Champaigne, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Catholic Schools Office

Friday, December 5, 2025Culture

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The meditation that once helped a young teacher recognize Christ's laboring presence now helps me see how redemption continues to unfold through the moments of "annunciation" or "visitations" in our lives.

Eileen
McLaughlin

Twenty-five years ago, I had a prayer experience that I return to annually at Advent. At the time, I was a novice Catholic school teacher in my second year at St. Ann School in Somerville. I committed to a 26-week program of prayer, reflection, and faith sharing, the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. One of the "spiritual exercises" is to read and pray with St. Ignatius' Meditation on the Incarnation. In this meditation, St. Ignatius invites us to imagine God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit looking down on creation. What they witness is a world in which some people are choosing to love while others operate from a place of hatred. Some people speak with voices that are kind and merciful, while others choose to blaspheme and hurt. Some people feel safe and confident, while others feel vulnerable and uncertain. What the Holy Trinity witnesses is not what was desired for creation. St. Ignatius imagines that the Trinity's response is "Let us work the redemption." That single phrase in the meditation signals to the person praying that the Incarnation, God the Son becoming human, being born in a stable to Mary and Joseph, is the way in which humans will be redeemed.

I have always found solace in that moment of prayer. I came to understand through that prayer experience that Christ is laboring with us to bring about redemption. Last Advent, this memory coincided with the Catholic Schools Office retreat for school leaders. We gather twice annually with school leaders for a day of prayer, reflection, faith sharing and spiritual development. Last year, our day of prayer focused on the Annunciation. It was an opportunity to witness to Mary's cooperation with the Blessed Trinity -- an opportunity to consider how we might do the same.
This year, our retreat focused on the Visitation -- Luke's Gospel moves immediately from the Annunciation, explaining that:
"During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, 'Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Luke 1:39-43)
In this moment, we realize that Elizabeth has her own annunciation. Mary learned of the coming of the Lord through the Angel Gabriel; Elizabeth's awareness of the presence of God comes from Mary. In this moment of prayer with the archdiocesan school leaders, I was aware of the way in which "Let us work the redemption" spread beyond the Holy Trinity, spread beyond Mary and Joseph. It included Elizabeth. It included her husband Zechariah. This moment in Scripture and prayer allowed me to consider the ways in which redemption is being worked today -- through Christ, through the Holy Spirit, through God the Father and in collaboration with so many of us. We are invited to work with Christ to bring about the kingdom. Each of us encounters our own moments of annunciation where we come to know Christ's presence, and maybe, like Elizabeth, we ask, "How does this happen to me?"
As Advent unfolds once again, I return to that early prayer experience with renewed gratitude. The meditation that once helped a young teacher recognize Christ's laboring presence now helps me see how redemption continues to unfold through the moments of "annunciation" or "visitations" in our lives. God still looks upon our world with love, still chooses to enter it, and still invites us into the work of redemption. Like Mary and Elizabeth, may we recognize Christ's presence within and around us -- and respond with generosity, humility, and joy.

- Eileen McLaughlin is superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Boston.