A Holy Visitation – the God-Bearer & Cousin Elizabeth
by Amicus Tren Meyers
Remembering Companion Mary Meyer Bockelman
(1929-2017)
Can’t you just picture the pregnant teenaged
Blessed Mary being welcomed by her older cousin
Elizabeth? As the “God-Bearer,” she not only carried
our Savior within her but also a bundle of questions,
fears, and excitement. At this most critical time she
sought out a dear cousin-friend to spill forth her heart
and be enfolded into a home of unconditional love.
She stayed there for three months.
I too was blessed to have such a cousin in Mary
Bockelman. Her dad and my grandpa were brothers.
Her mom and my grandma were cousins. Great Aunt
Maggie, her mother, had a very deep, humble, and
welcoming spirituality. The Precious Blood priests who
came to serve the parish in Bahner, Missouri would
often walk over to the simple Meyer farm home just
across the field from the church. They fed and hugged
on many a community member, offering a space for
“holy visitation.”
So many times, I traveled the hill country to see
this dear cousin-friend in her home, and more recent-
ly, in nursing homes. We talked long and often over
the phone. I have cherished memories of sitting on her
and John’s couch and at their dinner table. A number
of you have done the same. Mary, who had a lot of
Martha from the scriptures in her, would run around
making sure you had everything you needed. She
would dart around with her questions and her energy,
forever interested in how you were doing. She also had
amazing Mary (Martha’s sister) and Elizabeth quali-
ties—capable of listening carefully and deeply, always
sensing and supporting your soul.
All my memories of Mary involve laughing, eat-
ing, hugging, praying, and crying. How she loved
to laugh! And she was someone you could trust and
confide in. When I was Mary and John’s pastor in
the 1980s, I would sometimes drag into their home
weary, trying not to let on that I was concerned
about anything. Yet I knew she could read my en-
ergy. Without prying, sh