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.
"A little gem of a book."
“This is a little gem of a book that both women and men will return to, again and again, when the demands of life are such that we need fresh grounding in our appreciation of humility and grace, spontaneity and readiness, thanksgiving, and adventure and awe. It is, in two words, ‘a treasure.’”
Elizabeth Scalia
Catholic blogger and author of Strange Gods
"Will touch your heart and grace your soul."
“Loving Mary isn’t always easy for Catholics, especially converts. Sometimes the praise and adulation can seem a bit over the top. And all the various names and devotions! The ‘real’ Mary can sometimes get lost but, in her latest book, Denise Bossert gives all of us—converts and cradle Catholics alike—a Mary we can love through all the joys and sorrows of our lives. In Gifts of the Visitation, Bossert has written a book that will touch your heart and grace your soul by combining prayerful insight and meditation with the experience of one who has actually walked in the footsteps of Mary.”
Woodeene Koenig-Bricker
Author of 365 Mary
