THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (FEAST)

How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Mary had just discovered that she would bear God’s Son. Yet instead of retreating in silence and solitude to contemplate this miraculous event, she set out on an arduous journey of eighty miles to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Why was Mary so eager to make this trip?

Mary surely wanted to provide Elizabeth with practical help and support as her aging cousin awaited the birth of her own son, John the Baptist. Through these last days of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary could share in Elizabeth’s joy and anticipation.

But Mary also wanted to confide in Elizabeth her own wondrous news of the coming birth of the long-expected Messiah. She must have known that Elizabeth would greet this news with excitement and joy, not skepticism. And just as Mary expected, Elizabeth called out in faith the moment she heard Mary’s voice (Luke 1:42)!

Mary’s decision to spend time with Elizabeth was an act of human solidarity. It reflects a fundamental truth of the way God made us—as a community of people who share our joys and sorrows with one another. God doesn’t want us to navigate the various twists and turns in our lives on our own; he desires to move us toward deeper fellowship with one another.

Mary’s actions also reflected Christ’s presence in her. Instead of turning inward upon herself, she reached out to someone else. How incredibly beautiful that her first instinct was to visit her cousin! Yet isn’t that always what Christ’s presence within us does? It prompts us, like Mary, to reach out and love another person in some specific and inspired way. This is what it means to let Christ within us move us to love.

Today, let’s ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us so that the love of Christ can grow ever stronger in us and lead us to our own acts of human solidarity. May we too never hesitate to go “in haste” to the people God has put in our lives (Luke 1:39).

“Mother of God, pray for me to reach out to others in love, just as you did.”

Zephaniah 3:14-18
(Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6
Luke 1:39-56

WORD AMONG US