The Visitation

Luke 1:39-45:

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.”

Blog:

Almost as immediately as Mary accepted the Will of God sent through the Archangel St. Gabriel, she “made haste” and got out of Nazareth.  The journey by foot to the hill country to the North where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived (81 miles directly) would have been a few days’ journey at most.  So, Mary, 12 – 14 years old, barely a week or two pregnant (and certainly not “showing”) greets Elizabeth who immediately knows that Mary is carrying the Messiah in her womb!  This is one of the Miracles in the Bible that is often overlooked and taken for granted.  But it’s just another Miracle in a long line of Miracles that we all need to reflect upon as often as possible.  You see, just like Mary, God sends His Messengers to us and we, too, are given the Choice to accept His Calling or not.  But it doesn’t end there.  Once we accept His Will, we must act upon His Calling (just like St. Mary did by going to help St. Elizabeth and St. Zechariah).  We, too, must arrive at the Nativity of Jesus being born into our hearts and then do our best to be obedient to His Laws – or, in other words, what Jesus is calling all of us to do in this life – our personal Jesus Missions.  If we accept His Will, act on His Behalf, allow Him to birth Himself into our hearts, and be obedient to Him in all things, we’ll soon be just like Mary and Joseph who, when Jesus was just around Mary’s age when she accepted the Will of God (12 years old), found the King of kings in the Holy Temple doing His Father’s Will.  St. Paul reminds us all in 1 Corinthians 3:16, that we are all the Holy Temple of God.  So, let’s be sure to follow St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s examples and then look inwardly at times to remember that Jesus resides in the Holy Temples of our hearts.