Excerpt from Today's Reading:
"When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son. 
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her."
Luke 1:57-58

Today we Have a “guest post” by Fr. Henri Nouwen (1932-1996). Nouwen was a writer of great spiritual insight, and although he was still in the process of understanding and coming to terms with his sexuality at the end of his life, we hope that he would not object to us including him here as a voice in the queer communion of saints. Learn more about him here:  https://henrinouwen.org/

“Do not be afraid, have no fear,” is the voice we most need to hear. This voice was heard by Zechariah when Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, appeared to him in the temple and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son; this voice was heard by Mary when the same angel entered her house in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive, bear a child, and name him Jesus; this voice was also heard by the women who came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away. “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” The voice uttering these words sounds all through history as the voice of God’s messengers, be they angels or saints. It is the voice that announces a whole new way of being, a being in the house of love, the house of the Lord. . . . The house of love is not simply a place in the afterlife, a place in heaven beyond this world. Jesus offers us this house right in the midst of our anxious world.

Henri Nouwen