Reflection: Luke 2: 39-56
The month of May began with the Feast of St. Joseph and ends with the feast of Blessed Virgin Mary. Today the Church celebrates the Visitation of the Mother of God to Saint Elizabeth. The whole gospel brings us the Good News of a God who is in constant relationship with us humans and wants us to be in mutual support and love. That is precisely what Mary does when she visits Elizabeth her cousin. Mary travels to the hill country – to the house of Zachariah and Elizabeth. The most common of the reflections on the visitation talk about Mary’s readiness to help her cousin who became pregnant in her old age. But here is a slightly different reflection that I have come across on Mary’s travel to the hill county. Mary herself was in need of a change of environment. She was pregnant with the Son of God. But no amount of her explanations would have convinced her family or neighbourhood or even Joseph about her pregnancy, except for the intervention of the angel. She would soon be exposed at least among her neighbours and friends for being pregnant outside of the wedlock. And that would mean her own life in danger. Where could she find someone who would understand her? Angel Gabriel had given her the answer. Zachariah and Elizabeth would be the only couple who would understand her and accommodate her, because they too are going through a similar experience. Mary promptly leaves for the house of Zachariah, where she would stay for three months. Mary, who is just in her adolescence, received all the confirmation she needed on her new mission, at that very moment of her meeting with Elizabeth. Luke presents Mary as the ‘Tabernacle of the Holy Trinity’ here: She is carrying – God the Son in her womb. When Mary utters her greetings to Elizabeth, she is filled with the Holy Spirit, says the Gospel. And Elizabeth cries out aloud: How does this happen to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” For Mary, that was an occasion of echoing the message of the Angel which she heard in the annunciation. It must have been a moment of strengthening her own faith in the promises of God. Elizabeth gives a perfect example for instilling the distressed with appreciations and encouragement. She does not doubt at all this unwed, pregnant teenager. When one is filled with the Holy Spirit, he or she can only appreciate, encourage, love and accept. How often do our words and actions bring sleeplessness and anxiety to people around us? Mary and Elizabeth are ordinary people like anyone of us. But these ordinary women show us a path to follow, which we too can walk, if we ask for it every day, if we pray for it with faith.