The visit of Mary to Elizabeth

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent and therefore we are now in the week of Christmas Day and it is time to relight the four Advent candles of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. Today's gospel reading comes from Luke 1:39-45 which happens right after the annunciation. So first let's read this gospel narrative from St. Luke.

39 During those days, Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town in Judah, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

43 And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

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Today's gospel reading is about the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth who lived in Ein Karen in Judah. This place is quite a distance from her home in Nazareth, which is in Galilee and in those ancient times, the trip would have taken at least three to four days where one can travel with a caravan. This gospel narrative comes right after the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she was told by the angel Gabriel that her aging cousin was with child and was now in her sixth month.

Being as human as she is, naturally when the Spirit of the Lord overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary, she immediately felt the Son of God inside her womb. It must have sounded surreal for her, but when the angel Gabriel told her that her cousin Elizabeth was with child, she then hurried to Ein Karen to visit Elizabeth. For sure, the Blessed Virgin Mary never doubted the words of the angel Gabriel that she would bear the Son of God, but now there was someone close to her who too have been blessed by the Lord.

As the Blessed Virgin Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted her cousin Elizabeth, as we read in today's gospel, the infant or the baby John the Baptist leaped for joy inside her womb and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

Here we can see how the Holy Spirit has blessed these two women. Remember, during the announcement of the coming of the birth of John, the angel Gabriel appeared only to Zechariah, not to Elizabeth. Then she asked the poignant question, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" This is a question begging for an answer and it might as well be a question that you and I should ask ourselves!

There is no doubt that we men are sinners and will always be sinners, and therefore we are truly unworthy of God's coming to us. Yet later during his ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." As sinners we are all unworthy by our own selves of God's graciousness and mercy. But God's Love is so unfathomable; no human being can understand this divine kind of love, which the Catholic Church defines as "Agape."

We wrote about the four Sundays of Advent, which meant for us to prepare for the coming of our Saviour. For most people, Christmas meant going to the mall to shop for gifts and presents to give to their loved ones and friends. But there is a deeper and more spiritual meaning to this coming of our Lord Jesus Christ… where we must prepare our souls and cleansed ourselves with our past sins through the sacrament of reconciliation so when we take Holy Communion on Christmas Day, we are truly prepared for Christ to enter our bodies.

Just like Elizabeth in her days, she was considered barren and could not bear a child, which in ancient times meant that God had forsaken her and her husband Zechariah. But when it was his turn to offer prayers inside the Holy of Holies, the angel Gabriel appeared before Zechariah and told him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayers has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall name him John."

This passage tells us the God do hear our prayers and acts accordingly in his time, and we just have to wait for his blessings. All we need to do is to persevere in our prayers and as St. Padre Pio would say, "You pray, you hope and you don't worry." Please don't forget that God is always with us in the Holy Eucharist, where he is present, his body, blood, soul and divinity.

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