Joyful Mysteries Mediation: The Second Mystery—The Visitation
Sebastiano del Piombo. (1518-1519). The Visitation [Painting]. Wikimedia Commons.
[Editor’s Note: Over several weeks, beginning in August 2026, the Life-Giving Wounds blog will post meditations upon the Joyful Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. These mediations were written as part of our new Joyful Mysteries booklet. We invite you to pray a whole Rosary with us, or even just a decade, at the conclusion of each meditation.]
"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."' (Lk 1:39-42).
“For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” (Lk 1:44) This is a beautiful moment in salvation history: the Theotokos (meaning Mother of God: Cf CCC 495) and her cousin greet each other, but it is the Precursor who recognizes and rejoices in the presence of the Word Made Flesh, and his ecstatic dance fills his mother with the Holy Spirit.
Until my first Life-Giving Wounds weekend, I had no idea what the wound of silence [1]—the feeling that if one speaks about the pain, then one will be rejected or stigmatized— was, and how profoundly I had been affected by it for decades. On the retreat weekend, it was as if I were suddenly startled awake and only gradually came to realize where I was. Sitting in a room with other ACODs and hearing their stories, I realized for the first time that I was not alone. I was dazed and amazed.
Our presence to one another is powerful. The words we speak to one another are powerful. The healing power of Christ that is present and active in both is transformative. When we share parts of our stories with one another the wound of silence is exposed and healed, bit by bit. Sometimes that first telling and reception are so powerful that the wound is completely, or mostly, healed. Sometimes, it is like the practice of offering repeated forgiveness to those who hurt us: it can take many “passes” at sharing particularly painful moments in our story before the wounds can be fully and deeply healed. It is all in God’s perfect time.
It all begins when there is another, be it God the Father, Jesus in the Eucharist, a sibling, a spiritual director, or a beloved friend, to hear and to receive us together with our wounds. To be truly and deeply heard, maybe for the first time, and to give a voice to the pain those wounds inflicted on us is where healing begins. It is where we are met, there in our wounds, with love and compassion. Sometimes it is the words the other speaks, like the Blessed Mother’s greeting to Elizabeth, that offer comfort, but often it is the loving and accepting presence of another, like Jesus’ presence to John the Baptist, that breaks the wound of silence open and allows healing and grace to flood in.
I can only imagine how jarring it must have been for Elizabeth to go in an instant from thinking that she was simply greeting and receiving a relative to realizing that she was in the presence of her Savior, and that her child, her miraculous child, had a powerful role to play in the great drama of salvation history! And it all began with a simple greeting. It is similar to the moment we go from thinking “No one understands; no one cares about how my parents’ divorce affected me,” to “I am seen, known, and loved, even with my wounds!” What a powerful shift!
Never underestimate your greeting! Never underestimate the gift of your presence to another ACOD! It is being together as friends in Christ, listening deeply and compassionately and speaking tender words, that God will use to break open and begin to heal the wound of silence.
End Notes:
Cf. Chapter 1 of Meola, D., & Meola, B. (2023). Life-Giving Wounds: A Catholic Guide to Healing for Adult Children of Divorce or Separation. Ignatius Press.
Prayer Intention:
For the wound of silence to be exposed and begin to heal in us and ACODs close to us.
Keeping this intention and any others in mind, let us pray the second decade of the Most Holy Rosary.
About the Author:
Fr. Carl is a Dominican friar and priest of theWestern Province and a California native. He attended the first Life-Giving Wounds retreat on the West coast. His parents divorced when he was seven.
Reflection Questions for Small Groups or Individuals
Has the wound of silence played a role in your journey? If so, how?
How has hearing stories from other ACODs helped you in your healing journey?
Can you think of a particular person, or people, who have received you in your wound?
Healing happens when we journey together.
If this reflection on the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary resonated with you, consider obtaining a copy of the full Joyful Mysteries Rosary Meditations Booklet for ACODs.
You do not have to carry the darkness alone.
Together, we can walk into the light.