Mary visits Elizabeth
MARY set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me/ and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
REFLECTION HE HAS LOOKED WITH FAVOR ON HIS LOWLY SERVANT. Mary exclaims in joy at the great things the Almighty has done for her. She has not aspired to be great or imagined to become the mother of the Lord. She interprets her pregnancy as God’s intervention in her life. She is just an insignificant Jewish servant-girl in Nazareth, in a peripheral town of Israel. Yet, God has sent her angel to empower her to do something great. Out of many girls God has singled her out to be the mother of his Son Jesus. She is God’s choice. That makes her great and blessed among women.
As a result, all will call her blessed (makariousin), generation after generation. The word “blessed” means the same as fortunate or happy in the Beatitudes. People will consider her fortunate. Mary did not do anything to merit God’s attention. It is all God’s initiative, all God’s grace.
Mary’s Canticle tells us that God cannot ally himself with the rich and the powerful. God has no business with the arrogant and the proud. Instead, God lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry with good things.