Advent Reflection: The Second Joyful Mystery - The Visitation

Note: This is the second in my series of Rosary Reflections.

This Second Joyful Mystery, more than any other, is truly the Mystery of the Advent season. Like the Blessed Mother, like Elizabeth, and like the unborn John the Baptist, we wait with joyful anticipation for the coming birth of Our Lord.

The account of The Visitation, which immediately follows the account of the Annunciation in Luke's Gospel, brings us our first narrative account after the event of the Incarnation, the first narrative in which Our Lord is physically present - body, blood, soul, and divinity - as true God and true man. The first thing that immediately strikes me about the following passage, taken from Luke 1:39-56, is the amazing effect the unborn Son of God has on all who are near Him. Indeed, all creatures rejoice at his presence - even the unborn child in Elizabeth's own womb - and the one who bears Him in her womb is given a special place of honor by virtue of His presence inside of her. The account, once again from the Douay Rheims Bible, is as follows:


"39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda.
40 And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth.
41 And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
51 He hath showed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy:
55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

56 And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house."


The wording of the opening verses of this account is absolutely beautiful. The reaction of the unborn child stands in stark contrast to the all-too-familiar present-day denigration of the humanity of the unborn child. It was the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who came over Elizabeth, that inspired this response from the child. And it was the greeting of the pregnant Mother of God - fittingly, the patroness of the unborn - which served as the catalyst for this prompting of the Holy Spirit. As Mary herself says in her subsequent Magnificat, she is merely a vessel whose soul magnifies the Lord. Indeed, her greeting to Elizabeth - as with her greeting to countless others throughout the history of the Church - not only serves as the prelude to direct divine action, it prepares the one being greeted for that action by making her more receptive. We often think of the Blessed Mother as an intercessor only in the sense that she brings our petitions before God, but we often forget that her role as intercessor also includes preparing us for God's response to those petitions.

The actions of Elizabeth and her unborn child also have parallels in our liturgical life. As the first vessel to carry Jesus Christ body, blood, soul, and divinity, Mary was the first and holiest of tabernacles. Elizabeth's words to Mary - which, like the words of the angel Gabriel, are repeated in prayer by millions worldwide each and every day - show that she understands the divine nature of the presence inside of Mary. Elizabeth adopts a prayerful, worshipful tone in the presence of her Lord, and proclaims her unworthiness to be in the presence of the Mother of her Savior (her status as an elder kinswoman to Mary notwithstanding). What we are seeing, then, is the first recorded act of adoration of the Word made flesh.

Elizabeth also makes it a point to thank Mary - as we all should - for believing the words of the angel Gabriel, and for consenting to let it be done unto her according to God's word. Elizabeth is the first to acknowledge the importance not only of Mary's status as the Mother of God, but of the significance of Mary consenting to this. For it was not until she said "yes" that the words of the angel were fulfilled, and it was through that "yes" that Our Savior entered into the world.

Mary, of course, makes it clear who the recipient of that adoration should be. She acknowledges that all generations will call her blessed, but only by virtue of what God did to and through her. And she does so in the form of one of the most beautiful prayers recorded in the written Word, one that has parallels to the Beatitudes that Jesus would later share in one of His most famous sermons. Both attest to the fact that the greatest shall become the least and - much like the poor young virgin from Galilee - the least shall become the greatest.

In keeping with that theme, Elizabeth is attended to in the final three months of her pregnancy by the Mother of her God. And thus does Mary help provide prenatal care for the one who would prepare the way for the coming of her divine Son. Then she goes back to her own home and, like the rest of us, awaits the joyous day when a Savior shall be born unto the world.

May you continue to have a joyous Advent season, and God bless!


In Jesus and Mary,
Gerald