The Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth is celebrated on the thirty-first day of May.  Pope Innocent III, who reigned as the Vicar of Christ from 1198-1216, wrote a sermon for the feast of the Assumption in which he comments on Mary's words both at the time of the Annunciation and Visitation, which are taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke.

" 'Behold, I am the handmaid of The Lord: let it be done to me according to your word . . . For he has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid, for behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed.'  O happy humility, which adorns virginity!  Humility adorns virginity, lest virginity be proud.  Virginity honors humility, lest humility be despised.  Therefore, virginity is humble, lest it be proud, and humility is virginal, lest it be scorned.  We read that there are prudent virgins and proud virgins (Matthew 25).  The prudent virgins are humble, while the foolish virgins are proud."

In ancient times, a handmaid was a slave.  Mary's eagerness to declare that she was The Lord's handmaid shows her humility, while her virginity allows her to proclaim with absolute freedom that she is The Lord's handmaid -- his slave -- and no other's.  In Mary, the freedom of virginity and the wisdom of humility come together and form perfect beauty.

This is what we find in the Feast of Mary's Visitation.  The freedom of her virginity allowed her to go to the aid of her aged and pregnant cousin, and the wisdom of her humility told her that her place, at that time, was at her cousin's side.  And there, she consoled Elizabeth with the presence of the newly conceived Lord and Savior, and enlightened her as to the destiny of her own son, John.

Purity and wisdom, then, must go together for the Christian.  Let us act on the urging of Pope Innocent III, who observed, regarding Mary, "Who has ever prayed to her and not been heard?"  Through her prayers may we acquire the purity of heart and true knowledge and joy in our own lowliness that we might become like her, and become like her Son.