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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me be happy for other people's news, not jealous! Amen.

Before Jesus was born, Mary went to visit her aunt Elizabeth. Elizabeth was going to have a baby, too: Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist. When Elizabeth saw Mary, John knew Jesus was nearby and jumped for joy inside his mother! Elizabeth told Mary, "God blesses you for trusting God's promise to send you a son, Jesus!"

Does it annoy you when you start to tell a friend about something cool you're doing, and it turns out they've done the same thing? You're so excited that your family is planning a trip to Disney World -- until a friend says, "Yeah, I went there last year."

This week's Gospel (Luke 1:39-56) could have been like that. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, who's having a baby even though she's kind of old. It should be an exciting time for Elizabeth - but Mary is also having a baby, and her baby is going to be the Son of God!

Elizabeth could have gotten really annoyed. She must have been proud to be having a baby; she even suspected that John the Baptist was going to be a special person when he grew up. Mary's visit could have turned a happy time into a time of anger and jealousy.

When you find out that you and a friend have done the same thing, there are two ways you can react: You can get annoyed and jealous, or you can remind yourself that your friend's news doesn't take any excitement away from yours. In fact, it can be an opportunity to talk about how great your news is with someone who understands!

Elizabeth reacted the second way -- and so did baby John the Baptist, who jumped for joy inside his mother when Mary arrived. Then the two mothers could talk with excitement about the special babies they were both going to have soon. Neither of them chose to say, "Having a baby? Been there, done that."[[In-content Ad]]

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