The meeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her relative Elizabeth is a joyful encounter between these two women of faith and the children still in their wombs: The Savior of the World and his forerunner.
Shortly after announcing that Mary would be the Mother of God, the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that her elderly relative Elizabeth was also pregnant. Mary quicky went to care for the mother of John the Baptist.
Having been conceived for the purpose of announcing the promised Savior, John leaped in his mother’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice because the Savior was near.
Filled with the Holy Spirit and recognizing that her baby’s leaping was announcing the presence of Jesus, Elizabeth calls Mary most blessed among women and the mother of her Lord. These words would become part of the Hail Mary prayer.
Mary responds with humility and joy, giving thanks and praising God with her Magnificat, a hymn inspired by Sacred Scripture.
Mary’s journey through the hill country and John the Baptist’s leaping in her presence reveal that Jesus is the New Covenant and she is the Ark that carries Him in her womb.
Like all celebrations of the Blessed Virgin, the Visitation points to her Son and his saving work. By bringing Jesus in her womb from Galilee to her relative’s home in Judea, Mary foreshadows his missionary journey and provides a model of evangelization.
Catholics mediate on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the second joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary.
The Church celebrates the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 31, the conclusion of the Marian Month. The feast falls between the Annunciation on March 25 and the Birth of John the Baptist on June 24.
Recognizing that God’s promise has become flesh:
Mary is an example of readiness and generosity:
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 1: 39-45
The scene that reveals the Ark of the New Covenant:
More than just a visit:
Sharing Good News and a gift:
In today’s Feast of the Visitation the liturgy has us listen again to Luke’s Gospel passage that recounts Mary of Nazareth’s journey to the home of her elderly cousin Elizabeth. Let us imagine the Virgin’s state of mind after the Annunciation, when the Angel left her. Mary found herself with a great mystery enclosed within her womb; she knew something extraordinarily unique had happened; she was aware that the last chapter of salvation history in the world had begun. But everything around her remained as before and the village of Nazareth was completely unaware of what had happened to her. Before worrying about herself, Mary instead thought about elderly Elizabeth, who she knew was well on in her pregnancy and, moved by the mystery of love that she had just welcomed within herself, she set out “in haste” to go to offer Elizabeth her help. This is the simple and sublime greatness of Mary! When she reaches Elizabeth’s house, an event takes place that no artist could ever portray with the beauty and the intensity with which it took place. The interior light of the Holy Spirit enfolds their persons. And Elizabeth, enlightened from on high, exclaims: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Address, 31 May 2008
Mary’s visitation is a model of Christian discipleship:
Highlighting humility, service, and God’s work in our lives:
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” John was “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 717
The Visitation is a celebration of Christ:
Celebrating the Visitation in the region where it happened:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
A starting point on the journey to God:
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