In Novus Ordo, the last day of the month of May is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, placed between the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (June 24). This feast traces its origin to the Franciscans commemorating this significant even of the salvation history back in the time of St. Bonaventure. In 1389, the feast was made universal in the Church by Pope Urban VI in the hope for the unity of the Church against schism.
The feature of Mary’s visitation to her elder cousin,
Elizabeth, which is reflected in the Second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary,
is Mary’s canticle of praising God with her joyful gratitude, known as Magnificat. And this canticle (Luke
1:46-55) takes up a large portion of the Gospel Reading of this feast (Luke
1:39-56).
The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56) is sequential to the
Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), as Mary traveled in haste to care for Elizabeth,
as she learned from Gabriel of her pregnancy, in addition to learning of her
virgin pregnancy with the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke
1:35-40).
The first portion of the Gospel Reading of the feast
(Luke 1:39-45) describes how Elizabeth and John the Baptist in her womb responded
Mary and her Son, Jesus, in her womb, at her arrival with the Son in her womb.
As soon as Mary with Jesus in her womb arrived at the
house of Zachariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb
responded with joy to Jesus in Mary’s womb, by leaping for joy (Luke 1:41, 44) .It
was how the forerunner of Jesus greeted him at his arrival with his mother,
before their encounter on the bank of the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13-15).
Elizabeth blessed Mary as the one chosen by God among
women to serve as the Theotokos and
for humbly accepting God’s will on her to be the Mother of His Son (Luke
1:42a). Then, she blessed Jesus, recognizing him as the Messiah, who was
growing in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:42b). And Elizabeth also expressed her joyful
gratitude to have the honor of being visited by the mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:43).
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41), thus being in ecstatic joy (i.e. Galatians 5:22) not only for her unexpected pregnancy at her advanced age but also for having the honor to be visited by the mother of her Lord (Luke 1:43). Nobody had to tell Elizabeth about Mary’s virgin pregnancy with Jesus as the Holy Spirit enabled her to figure this out. So, Elizabeth spoke a benediction, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”(Luke 1:45). “What was spoken to you” refers to what God had spoken through Gabriel about Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist (Luke 1:13-20) and Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus (Luke 1:30-35).
There is nothing to prevent God’s will from being done
(Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26). So, the chosen virgin, Mary, conceived the Son of
God incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit
(Luke 1:28-35). And Elizabeth, who was past childbearing age and thought to be barren
(Luke 1:7), also became pregnant (Luke 1:24). Though Mary is the only virgin to
be impregnated by Him through the Holy Spirit, God made other women like
Elizabeth pregnant, such as in the cases of Sarah (Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-4) and
Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-20).
Knowing how marvelous God’s deeds are, making what is
impossible for humans possible, Mary praises God in joyful gratitude for what
He had done to her and to Israel, in her canticle, known as the Magnificat
(Luke 1:46-55).
This canticle of Mary has two parts: Praising God for
his favor and marvelous deeds on her (vv. 46-49) and God’s gracious and
merciful deeds for the salvation of Israel (vv. 50-55).
Mary sang:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s
lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One
has done great things for me, and holy is his name
(Luke 1:46-49).
First, Mary’s soul glorifies God as in Psalm 34:2-4,
35:9, as well as, in Isaiah 61:10 (Luke 1:46). And she expresses her joy to have
been chose to have God’s special favor, namely, being the Immaculate Conception,
being full of grace (Luke 1:47; cf. Luke 1:28, 30). She also foresees that the
world regards her as blessed for being God’s favored one (Luke 1:48), as a
woman in the crowd told Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the
breasts at which you nursed”(Luke 11:27), referring to his mother, Mary.
So, she expressed her gratitude to God for great things done for her (Luke
1:49), including choosing her among the women to serve Him as the Theotokos ,
as His handmaid (Luke 1:38).
Then in the second part
of her canticle, Mary sings of God’s mercy for those who are faithful
throughout the history:
His mercy is from age to
age to those who fear him (Luke 1:50; cf. Psalm 89:2; 103:13,
17).
After praising God’s
mercy, Mary now sings His mighty arm of justice (Isaiah 52:10):
He has shown might with
his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the
rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly
(Luke 1:51-52).
These words of Mary
reflects God’s words against the arrogant and for the humble (Isaiah 2:11). And
Jesus also reiterated (Matthew 23:12).
In concluding her
canticle, Mary sings God’s mercy reflecting the history of Israel:
The hungry he has filled
with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his
servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his descendants forever (Luke 1:53-55).
In these words, God’s
compassionate acts for His anawim are reflected, as in Psalm 107:9,
recalling how He helped the Israelite sustain themselves for 40 years in the
desert (Exodus 16:1-17:5) (Luke 1:53). Mary also reflects the servant-master
relationship between Israel and God (Luke 1:54; cf. Isaiah 41:8-27), in
connection to His caring covenants with Abraham (Luke 1:55; cf. Genesis 13:15;
17:7; 18:18; 22:17-18).
By singing this, Mary prophesizes
that Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb will, perfect the servant-master
relationship between not only Israel but the rest of the world with God, as he
is the Father’s humble and faithful servant to let His will be done (i.e. Luke
22:42; John 5:30; 6:38; cf. Isaiah 52:13-53:13).
Therefore, Mary’s
canticle in praising God with her joyful gratitude, is profoundly Christological
and soteriological, reflecting back God’s eternal covenants with Abraham,
focusing on God’s mercy and mighty arm of justice.
For this feast of the
Visitation, there are two optional texts for the First Reading. First option (Zephaniah
3:14-18a; cf. Isaiah 66:7-14), which prophesizes joyful restoration of
Jerusalem, projecting her eternal perfection as the New Jerusalem at the eschaton
(Revelation 21:1-26). And this is reflected in the second part of Mary’s
canticle (Luke 1:50-55), because the consummation of Mary’s Son’s mission, as
the Messiah, results in the New Jerusalem. The second option for the First
Reading (Romans 12:9-16) captures the mutual love and joy shared by Mary and
Elizabeth at the Visitation, as well as, Elizabeth’s hospitality.
For Mary, becoming
pregnant with the Son of God was not her will but God’s will. She had been
chosen, as Pope Pius IX wrote in Ineffabilis Deus, in establish the
Mariological doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Though greatly troubled at
first by the thought of being made pregnant without having a physical contact
with Joseph (Luke 1:29), Mary not only humbly accept it and professing to serve
God as His handmaid (Luke 1:38), she praised this in the first part of her
canticle (Luke 1:45-49), followed by her praise of God for His mercy and mighty
deeds of justice (Luke 1:50-55).
So, what is the significance
of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth? How does this significant event in our
salvation history affect your faith? Do we respond to God’s will with our
joyful gratitude, as Mary did in her Magnificat, even though it was not
what we wanted at first?
Let us remember, the love
and joy shared by these women are due to the fruit of the Holy Spirit
(Galatians 5:22), because of the presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41).
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