Today's Thoughts to Live | Feast of the Visitation

by Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo, O.M.I, Archbishop-Emeritus of Cotabato

Liturgy of the Word

Zephaniah 3:14-18 or Romans 12:9-16

Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6

Luke 1:39-56

Some Notes on the Visitation, the 2nd Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.

1. The earliest evidence of the feast in the West is its adoption by the Franciscans in 1263, upon the advice of St. Bonaventure. The feast began to spread to many churches. It was extended to the entire Church by Pope Urban VI in 1389, with the hope that Christ and his Mother would end the Great Western Schism that had divided the Church, when there were several claimants to the papacy. In the 1969 revision of the Roman calendar, the feast was fixed on May 31, the crown of the month of Mary.

2. Gospel, Lk. 1:39-56. Luke gives the only Gospel account of the Visitation. Saying "Fiat," "Let it be done to me," Mary conceives the Son of the Most High, by the power of the Holy Spirit. As proof that "nothing is impossible with God," the angel Gabriel tells Mary that her cousin, Elizabeth, sterile and elderly, was already six months with child (see Lk. 1:26-38).

3. So Mary goes "into the hill country with haste, into the city of Juda" (v. 39). Nazareth is about 4 days away from the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah in Ain Karem, the traditional site of the Visitation, near Jerusalem. The young maiden could have joined a caravan, or perhaps Joseph, her betrothed, escorted her, and then returned to his home. She has to journey through Samaria.

4. Her journey is a journey of love -- to be of service to her elderly cousin, Elizabeth. She may have also wanted to be a "missionary," to communicate to her the mystery of the Annunciation. The Gospel scene connects the two "annunciations" of Elizabeth and Mary - two women and two promises (see Announcement of the birth of John, vv. 5-25).

5. As soon as Elizabeth hears Mary's greeting, the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy (v. 51). Jesus, the Messiah, who is not yet born, meets his precursor, John, the prophet. The precursor "dances" in Elizabeth's womb, as did David before the Ark of the Covenant (see 2 Sm. 6:14-16). John, still in the womb, becomes aware of the presence of Christ. His leap of joy marks his cleansing from original sin and the infusion of divine grace, as early Church Fathers (e.g., Sts. Athanasius, Cyprian, Ambrose, Gregory), St. Thomas Aquinas and other scholars say. Mary thus serves as mediatrix of grace for the first time.

6. Elizabeth, "filled with the Holy Spirit," exclaims, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does it happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?... Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled" (vv. 42-45). Mary does not have to tell her cousin of the visit of the angel. The Holy Spirit has already revealed this to Elizabeth. She identifies Jesus as the Lord even before his birth. She also identifies Mary as a believer in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (see Lk. 1:20). In Acts 1:14, Mary is explicitly mentioned among "those who believed."

7. And Mary says, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior" (v. 47). Mary's song of praise is composed of phrases from the Old Testament. Luke announces many themes in his Gospel: God's mercy and the universality of salvation (vv. 50, 54-55), joy and peace, concern for the lowly and denunciation of the proud (vv. 48, 51-53), and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (vv. 54-55).

8. Mary stays with Elizabeth for about 3 months to help her in the birth of John, and then returns home (v. 56).

9. 1st Reading, Zep. 3:14-18 -- The prophet exhorts and encourages Zion, "Shout for joy, daughter Zion!" (v. 14). "The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior" (v. 17).

10. Resp. Is. 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 -- The responsorial from the prophet, Isaiah, echoes Mary's Magnificat. "God is my salvation" (v. 2). "Give thanks to the Lord, acclaim his name" (v. 4). "Sing praise to the Lord for he has done glorious things" (v. 5).

11. Prayer -- Almighty ever-living God, you inspired the Blessed Virgin Mary, while carrying your Son in her womb, to visit Elizabeth. Grant us, we pray, that we may be faithful to the promptings of the Spirit and magnify your greatness with the Virgin Mary at all times. This we pray, through Christ our Lord. Amen (Today's Collect).

My soul magnifies the Lord! Prayerful Easter greetings and best wishes, God bless!