Chotard Doll

Dear Friends:

Tomorrow the church celebrates the beautiful exchange between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, women chosen to be instrumental in the story of salvation.

Today, however is the Eve of that Visitation, and the lessons speak of the world these holy children will inaugurate.

Isaiah prophesies “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” (11:2) and “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (11:9)

The peaceable kingdom Isaiah prophecies, in which the wolf and the lamb lie down together, seems only to have come in the hearts of those who have truly surrendered to the knowledge of the Lord.

I have a wolf and I have a lamb who dwell side by side in my heart, but they still contend together far too frequently. Nevertheless I believe and I trust that God’s promise will be fulfilled—hopefully in my heart, and certainly in the future in God’s presence when I die.

And I pray that the peaceful kingdom may also someday be visible in this complex world in which we live and have our being.

Faithfully,

—Chotard