Posted on 05/31/2021 2:18:23 PM PDT by MurphsLaw
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1:39–56
Friends, today’s Gospel tells of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. I’ve always been fascinated by Mary’s “haste” in this story of the visitation. Upon hearing the message of Gabriel concerning her own pregnancy and that of her cousin, Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah” to see Elizabeth.
Why did she go with such speed and purpose? Because she had found her mission, her role in the theo-drama. We are dominated today by the ego-drama in all of its ramifications and implications. The ego-drama is the play that I’m writing, I’m producing, I’m directing, and I’m starring in. We see this absolutely everywhere in our culture. Freedom of choice reigns supreme: I become the person that I choose to be.
The theo-drama is the great story being told by God, the great play being directed by God. What makes life thrilling is to discover your role in it. This is precisely what has happened to Mary. She has found her role—indeed a climactic role—in the theo-drama, and she wants to conspire with Elizabeth, who has also discovered her role in the same drama. Like Mary, we have to find our place in God’s story.
Mary’s first instinct, so to speak, after being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceiving Jesus, is to go see Elizabeth. By going to visit Elizabeth, Mary acts as a mediatrix of God’s presence. Mary knows that there is “divine grace” within her and she journeys to “mediate this grace” to Elizabeth. Is this not what Luke is showing us in a very beautiful and subtle way?
Mary’s visit has an extraordinary effect on Elizabeth, for Luke tells us that upon hearing Mary’s greeting, “the babe in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit”, praised Mary, exclaiming:
"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 fulfillment of what what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1: 42-45)
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