The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saturday, December 12, 2020

Luke 1:39-47

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, “Most 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.” 

Of the various options available for the Gospel reading for today’s feast, the above is the one I would choose, as it speaks of the Virgin Mary newly pregnant with her Son, for the miraculous image associated with this feast also shows her as pregnant.  

“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.”  She does this after the Angel Gabriel has revealed to her that she is to be the Mother of God.  By the use of the words “in haste”, St. Luke seems to indicate that she left Nazareth very soon after the Annunciation and that she traveled with a certain urgency.  The way Luke tells the story, she was moved to do this by the news of her relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy, with the implication that she had gone to assist her.  It also is reasonable to consider whether her primary intention was to seek instruction from Elizabeth’s husband, the priest Zechariah on what she was to do to prepare for the birth of her Son.  Luke also does not mention how Mary traveled and if she traveled with a caravan or by herself.  The “haste” with which she went would lead us to think she left Nazareth alone.  This is possible, but we are not told one way or the other.  The “haste” also leaves us in no doubt that she had a definite purpose in going.

“She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”  Luke does not tell us that she greeted Zechariah, but he could have been in the house.  His inability to speak at this time would have limited his social life, although he may have sat outside the town by its gate with the other elders and the greeting took place there.  Luke tells us that when Mary came to the house, she went directly into it and then into the room where Elizabeth had secluded herself, for she had “hid herself five months” (Luke 1, 24).  Notable here is the boldness with which the Virgin Mary acted, and also her solicitude for Elizabeth, for we are told that she greeted Elizabeth, not that Elizabeth greeted her, as was proper for the householder to do for a guest.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.”  Joy attends the arrival of the Blessed Virgin and her Son.  This leaping of John the Baptist in his mother’s womb at the visible presence of Mary and the as yet invisible presence of her Son reminds us that where she is, he is.  Where we see the Mother, we see the Son.  It need not have been so, but the Lord God, in his marvelous Providence, chose to come to the human race through a human woman, and he reminds us of the human nature of his Son — the reality that his Son became flesh and did dwell among us — by the presence of his Mother, from whom his Son took his flesh.

“Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice.”  The presence of God, and his presence through the Blessed Virgin, inspires us through the power of the Holy Spirit to praise him.  His presence brings joy to those who love him and yearn for his company.  The appearance of the Virgin guarantees the reality of his presence.  And in this moment, he looks at us through her eyes.  Following the praise of God and of the one who bears him in her womb, Elizabeth wondered aloud, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  Utter humility is the second proper response to the revelation of God’s presence, whether the presence is sacramental, as in the Holy Eucharist, or physically, as here.  This is no false humility at the sight of an earthly king, either.  In the depths of her soul, Elizabeth abased herself and marveled that the Mother of the Lord had come to her.  “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  While Elizabeth calls Mary “blessed” for her faith in the fulfillment of God’s will, she also commends this faith to us as well as the will to carry out God’s will in our lives.  This desire to do God’s will is the third response to the appearance of the Lord through the Virgin.

We see these in the apparitions to Juan Diego which are commemorated in this feast, particularly his obedience to go to the local bishop to make Mary’s command known that a church be built in her honor, despite the skepticism this might invite, and in his humility at the second apparition when he called himself an unfit instrument for carrying out her desire.   

On this feast day, let us honor her who honored our Lord with the complete giving of herself, and who has given him to us.