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From: Luke 1:39-56

The Visitation

[39] In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill
country, to a city of Judah, [40] and she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. [41] And when Elizabeth heard the
greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit [42] and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! [43] And
why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
[44] For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the
babe in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed is she who believed
that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the
Lord."

The Magnificat

[46] And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, [47] and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior, [48] for He has regarded the low estate of
His handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me
blessed; [49] for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and
holy is His name. [50] And His mercy is on those who fear Him from
generation to generation. [51] He has shown strength with His arm, He
has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, [52] He has
put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low
degree; [53] He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He
has sent empty away. [54] He has helped His servant Israel, in
remembrance of His mercy, [55] as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his posterity for ever."

[56] And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her
home.

Commentary:

39-56. We contemplate this episode of our Lady's visit to her cousin
St. Elizabeth in the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: "Joyfully
keep Joseph and Mary company...and you will hear the traditions of the
House of David.... We walk in haste towards the mountains, to a town
of the tribe of Judah (Luke 1:39).

"We arrive. It is the house where John the Baptist is to be born.
Elizabeth gratefully hails the Mother of her Redeemer: Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be
honored with a visit from the mother of my Lord? (Luke 1:42-43).

"The unborn Baptist quivers...(Luke 1:41). Mary's humility pours forth
in the "Magnificat".... And you and I, who are proud--who were
proud--promise to be humble" ([St] J. Escriva, "Holy Rosary").

39. On learning from the angel that her cousin St. Elizabeth is soon to
give birth and is in need of support, our Lady in her charity hastens
to her aid. She has no regard for the difficulties this involves.
Although we do not know where exactly Elizabeth was living (it is now
thought to be Ain Karim), it certainly meant a journey into the hill
country which at that time would have taken four days.

From Mary's visit to Elizabeth Christians should learn to be caring
people. "If we have this filial contact with Mary, we won't be able to
think just about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems
will find no place in our mind" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By," 145).

42. St. Bede comments that Elizabeth blesses Mary using the same words
as the archangel "to show that she should be honored by angels and by
men and why she should indeed be revered above all other women" ("In
Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").

When we say the "Hail Mary" we repeat these divine greetings,
"rejoicing with Mary at her dignity as Mother of God and praising the
Lord, thanking Him for having given us Jesus Christ through Mary" ("St.
Pius X Catechism", 333).

43. Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to call Mary "the mother of
my Lord", thereby showing that Mary is the Mother of God.

44. Although he was conceived in sin--original sin--like other men, St.
John the Baptist was born sinless because he was sanctified in his
mother's womb by the presence of Jesus Christ (then in Mary's womb) and
of the Blessed Virgin. On receiving this grace of God St. John
rejoices by leaping with joy in his mother's womb--thereby fulfilling
the archangel's prophecy (cf. Luke 1:15).

St. John Chrysostom comments on this scene of the Gospel: "See how new
and how wonderful this mystery is. He has not yet left the womb but he
speaks by leaping; he is not yet allowed to cry out but he makes
himself heard by his actions [...]; he has not yet seen the light but
he points out the Sun; he has not yet been born and he is keen to act
as Precursor. The Lord is present, so he cannot contain himself or
wait for nature to run its course: he wants to break out of the prison
of his mother's womb and he makes sure he witnesses to the fact that
the Savior is about to come" ("Sermo Apud Metaphr., Mense Julio").

45. Joining the chorus of all future generations, Elizabeth, moved by
the Holy Spirit, declares the Lord's Mother to be blessed and praises
her faith. No one ever had faith to compare with Mary's; she is the
model of the attitude a creature should have towards its
Creator--complete submission, total attachment. Through her faith,
Mary is the instrument chosen by God to bring about the Redemption; as
Mediatrix of all graces, she is associated with the redemptive work of
her Son: "This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of
salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal
conception up to His death; first when Mary, arising in haste to go to
visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in
the promise of salvation and the Precursor leaps with joy in the womb
of his mother [...]. The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of
faith and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the
cross, where she stood (cf. John 19:25), in keeping with the Divine
Plan, enduring with her only-begotten Son the intensity of His
suffering, associating herself with His sacrifice in her mother's
heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which
was born of her" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 57f).

The new Latin text gives a literal rendering of the original Greek when
it says "quae credidit" (RSV "she who has believed") as opposed to the

Vulgate "quae credidisti" ("you who have believed") which gave more of
the sense than a literal rendering.

46-55. Mary's "Magnificat" canticle is a poem of singular beauty. It
evokes certain passages of the Old Testament with which she would have
been very familiar (especially 1 Samuel 2:1-10).

Three stanzas may be distinguished in the canticle: in the first
(verses 46-50) Mary glorifies God for making her the Mother of the
Savior, which is why future generations will call her blessed; she
shows that the Incarnation is a mysterious expression of God's power
and holiness and mercy. In the second (verses 51-53) she teaches us
that the Lord has always had a preference for the humble, resisting the
proud and boastful. In the third (verses 54-55) she proclaims that
God, in keeping with His promise, has always taken care of His chosen
people--and now does them the greatest honor of all by becoming a Jew
(cf. Romans 1:3).

"Our prayer can accompany and imitate this prayer of Mary. Like her,
we feel the desire to sing, to acclaim the wonders of God, so that all
mankind and all creation may share our joy" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 144).

46-47. "The first fruits of the Holy Spirit are peace and joy. And the
Blessed Virgin had received within herself all the grace of the Holy
Spirit" (St. Basil, "In Psalmos Homilae", on Psalm 32). Mary's soul
overflows in the words of the "Magnificat". God's favors cause every
humble soul to feel joy and gratitude. In the case of the Blessed
Virgin, God has bestowed more on her than on any other creature.
"Virgin Mother of God, He whom the heavens cannot contain, on becoming
man, enclosed Himself within your womb" ("Roman Missal", Antiphon of
the Common of the Mass for Feasts of Our Lady). The humble Virgin of
Nazareth is going to be the Mother of God; the Creator's omnipotence
has never before manifested itself in as complete a way as this.

48-49. Mary's expression of humility causes St. Bede to exclaim: "It
was fitting, then, that just as death entered the world through the
pride of our first parents, the entry of Life should be manifested by
the humility of Mary" ("In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").

"How great the value of humility!--"Quia respexit humilitatem.... It
is not of her faith, nor of her charity, nor of her immaculate purity
that our Mother speaks in the house of Zachary. Her joyful hymn sings:
`Since He has looked on my humility, all generations will call me
blessed'" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 598).

God rewards our Lady's humility by mankind's recognition of her
greatness: "All generations will call me blessed." This prophecy is
fulfilled every time someone says the Hail Mary, and indeed she is
praised on earth continually, without interruption. "From the earliest
times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God,
under whose protection the faithful take refuge together in prayer in
all their perils and needs. Accordingly, following the Council of
Ephesus, there was a remarkable growth in the cult of the people of God
towards Mary, in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation,
according to her own prophetic words: `all generations will call me
blessed, for He who is mighty has done great things for me'" (Vatican
II, "Lumen Gentium", 66).

50. "And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to
generation": "At the very moment of the Incarnation, these words open
up a new perspective of salvation history. After the Resurrection of
Christ, this perspective is new on both the historical and the
eschatological level. From that time onwards there is a succession of
new generations of individuals in the immense human family, in
ever-increasing dimensions; there is also a succession of new
generations of the people of God, marked with the sign of the Cross and
of the Resurrection and `sealed' with the sign of the paschal mystery
of Christ, the absolute revelation of the mercy that Mary proclaimed on
the threshold of her kinswoman's house: "His mercy is [...] from
generation to generation' [...].

"Mary, then, is the one who has the "deepest knowledge of the mystery
of God's mercy". She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In
this sense, we call her the "Mother of Mercy": Our Lady of Mercy, or
Mother of Divine Mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep
theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her
soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive,
through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual
and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which `from generation to
generation' people become sharers according to the eternal design of
the Most Holy Trinity" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 9).

51. "The proud": those who want to be regarded as superior to others,
whom they look down on. This also refers to those who, in their
arrogance, seek to organize society without reference to, or in
opposition to, God's law. Even if they seem to do so successfully, the
words of our Lady's canticle will ultimately come true, for God will
scatter them as He did those who tried to build the Tower of Babel,
thinking that they could reach as high as Heaven (cf. Genesis 11:4).

"When pride takes hold of a soul, it is no surprise to find it bringing
along with it a whole string of other vices--greed, self-indulgence,
envy, injustice. The proud man is always vainly striving to dethrone
God, who is merciful to all His creatures, so as to make room for
himself and his ever cruel ways.

"We should beg God not to let us fall into this temptation. Pride is
the worst sin of all, and the most ridiculous.... Pride is unpleasant,
even from a human point of view. The person who rates himself better
than everyone and everything is constantly studying himself and looking
down on other people, who in turn react by ridiculing his foolish
vanity" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 100).

53. This form of divine providence has been experienced countless times
over the course of history. For example, God nourished the people of
Israel with manna during their forty years in the wilderness (Exodus
16:4-35); similarly His angel brought food to Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-8),
and to Daniel in the lions' den (Daniel 14:31-40); and the widow of
Sarepta was given a supply of oil which miraculously never ran out (1
Kings 17:8ff). So, too, the Blessed Virgin's yearning for holiness was
fulfilled by the incarnation of the Word.

God nourished the chosen people with His Law and the preaching of His
prophets, but the rest of mankind was left hungry for His word, a
hunger now satisfied by the Incarnation. This gift of God will be
accepted by the humble; the self-sufficient, having no desire for the
good things of God, will not partake of them (cf. St. Basil, "In
Psalmos Homilae", on Psalm 33).

54. God led the people of Israel as He would a child whom He loved
tenderly: "the Lord your God bore you, as a man bears his son, in all
the way that you went" (Deuteronomy 1:31). He did so many times, using
Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, etc., and now He gives them a definitive
leader by sending the Messiah--moved by His great mercy which takes
pity on the wretchedness of Israel and of all mankind.

55. God promised the patriarchs of old that He would have mercy on
mankind. This promise He made to Adam (Genesis 3:15), Abraham (Genesis
22:18), David (2 Samuel 7:12), etc. From all eternity God had planned
and decreed that the Word should become incarnate for the salvation of
all mankind. As Christ Himself put it, "God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.