By Leon Bent –
After the Annunciation, Mary is confused – surely you would be perplexed, if you were Mary. Who can she talk to about this strange happening? Her mother? Her rabbi? The only person she knows who would understand her is her cousin Elizabeth. The angel had told Mary: “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren, is in her sixth month. For, nothing is impossible with God!” (1:36-37).
Further, Pope Pius VI said: “The liturgy (of the Visitation) recalls the Blessed Virgin carrying her Son within her and visiting Elizabeth to offer charitable assistance and to proclaim the mercy of God.”
Perhaps, you are a new Christian, struggling hard to understand and make your way. I encourage you to pray that God enables you to find an ‘Elizabeth’, to help you during this incredible period of your spiritual journey. Both, Mary and Elizabeth are Spirit-filled! They glorify God and rejoice! The Greek word agalliao means “rejoice, exuberant, exalt.” The focus of Mary’s joy is “God my Saviour!” Mary is caught up in joy in the Lord!
The feast of the Visitation on May 31st, recalls the following great truths and events: The visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth shortly after the Annunciation; the cleansing of John the Baptist from Original Sin in the womb of his mother at the words of Our Lady’s greeting; Elizabeth’s proclaiming of Mary—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—as Mother of God and “blessed among women”; Mary’s singing of the sublime hymn, The Magnificat (“My soul doth magnify the Lord”) which, has become a part of the daily official prayer of the Church. The Visitation is frequently depicted in art, and was the central mystery of St. Francis de Sales’ devotions.
And, Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah [Lk. 1:39].
How lyrical is the opening sentence of St. Luke’s description of the Visitation. We can feel the rush of warmth and kindness, the sudden urgency of love that sent the ecstatic, puzzled girl hurrying passionately over the hills. “Those days” in which she rose, on impulse, were the days in which Christ was being formed in her – the impulse was that of the Boy Child.
Many women, if they were expecting a child, would refuse to hurry over the hills on a visit of pure kindness. They would say they had a duty to themselves, and to their unborn child, which came before anything or anyone else. The Mother of God considered no such thing. Elizabeth was going to have a child, too, and although Mary’s own child was God, she could not forget Elizabeth’s need – almost incredible to us, but characteristic of her. She greeted her cousin Elizabeth, and, at the sound of her voice, John quickened in his mother’s womb and leapt for joy. How did Elizabeth herself know what had happened to Our Lady? What made her realize that her little cousin, who was so familiar to her, was the mother of her God?
She knew it by the child within herself, by the quickening into life which was a leap of joy, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. If we practice this contemplation taught and shown to us by Our Lady, we will find that our experience is like hers!
If Christ is growing in us, if we are at peace, recollected, because we know that, however insignificant our life seems to be, from it He is forming Himself; if we go with eager wills, “in haste,” to wherever our circumstances compel us, because we believe that He desires to be in that place, we shall find that we are driven, more and more, to act on the impulse of Jesus’ love.
In the Visitation narrative we look to Mary as model of the apostolate of the Church. She brings Jesus and a blessing to the house of Zechariah. The experience of the primitive Church was that the power of the Lord was the greatest gift it had to offer. To “bring Jesus” will always be the supreme norm of any genuine apostolate. The Church’s mission is to show Jesus as wisdom and power in each situation of human need.
The Feast Mass Liturgy salutes Mary, who in her womb bore the King of heaven and earth, the Creator of the world, the Son of the Eternal Father, the Sun of Justice, the Redeemer. Hearing herself addressed by the most lofty title of “Mother of the Lord”, and realizing what grace her visit had conferred on John, Mary broke out in that sublime canticle of praise proclaiming prophetically that, henceforth she would be venerated down the centuries: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour. Because he who is mighty, hath done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Lk. 1:46).
Almighty ever-living God, the Blessed Virgin Mary found she was carrying your Son in her womb. Inspired by her visit to Elizabeth, grant us, we pray, that, faithful to the urging of the Spirit, we may magnify your greatness, with the Virgin Mary, at all times.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
Leon Bent regularly writes for 9 Catholic Magazines, Journals and Web Portals, worldwide – occasionally, the reach is over 5 million readers.