Gifts of the Visitation: Nine Spiritual Encounters With Mary and Elizabeth

by Denise Bossert, Teresa Tomeo (Introduction)

The biblical encounter between the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, before the births of Jesus and John the Baptist, is at the heart of Gifts of the Visitation by popular speaker and syndicated columnist Denise Bossert. She uses their story to highlight nine gifts experienced by both women as they awaited the arrival of their sons and to encourage readers to develop these gifts themselves.

In her debut book, speaker, columnist, and Catholic convert Denise Bossert showcases the seasons of birth, grief, newness, and challenge experienced in the hearts of Mary and Elizabeth at the Visitation and invites readers to see these times in their own lives as opportunities to let God make all things new. Within each of those seasons, nine gifts emerge--spontaneity, courage, joy, readiness, humility, adventure, hospitality, wonder and awe, and thanksgiving--equipping readers to present Christ to the world as Mary and Elizabeth did.

Bossert's encounter with Mary, which led her to Catholicism, serves as the window for discovering and exploring the gifts and helps readers look inside their own hearts to discover what the gifts of the visit between Mary and Elizabeth mean to them and how they can be Christ-bearers to others.

Genres: Religion

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2015

Reviews

[SweetAileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My growth in humility has come, not because of my holiness, as it did for Mary and Elizabeth, but because of my weakness. I have caused my own humiliations. I have not humbled myself as I should, but rather humiliated myself as I careened down paths that have taken me far from God's gentle plan. I have discovered humility at my own hands and through a sequence of bad decisions.

At the Visitation, we see the humility of two women who rank so much higher than the rest of us, but they still bow and accept God's will. They magnify God and consider themselves of low estate. ( pg 67)

[Lauren Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it wasn't what I expected, I found it thought provoking and very helpful read as a day ( a chapter a day) meditation and novena. I am thinking of gathering a group to read it weekly all together and use the questions at the end as a guide for discussion. It shines a beautiful light on the Blessed Mother and Elizabeth... At a place in scripture that I have never given much prayerful thought over, I found it deepened my spirituality on a few different levels.

[Robert Lariviere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good spiritual read.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book that truly magnifies the beauty of the visitation and the impact it can have in our lives.