Thoughts for the Day

Mary Visits Elizabeth

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at 'Elizabeth and Mary'.

Having received the message from from the Angel Gabriel and submitted to God's will, Mary travels to Judea (80-100 miles south) to see her cousin Elizabeth. Mary must have felt that Elizabeth would understand what had happened to her, for she too had been touched by God. When Gabriel spoke to Zechariah in the Temple it was six months ago, so news would have travelled to Galilee that the priest had had a vision, lost his power of speech, and that Elizabeth his elderly and previously barren wife was now pregnant.

This is not the last time we see Elizabeth in the nativity story. Like Mary, Elizabeth had believed in the message from the Lord given to her husband Zechariah in the Temple by an angel, that their son would prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. We can see this in her word "Lord" for Mary's baby that she is filled with the Holy Spirit. Through Him she is able to pronounce a blessing on Mary and on her baby, because she has believed God's word.

Through two such different women, one so young and the other much older, because of their faith and their active agreement to God's word, Yahweh's plan for His people continues.

Heavenly Father,
You saw the faith of Elizabeth and Mary,
and that in their humanity
they offered themselves as Your servants
to fulfill Your mission to Your people.
May we offer ourselves this Advent
as Your servants
to fulfill the work You have set
aside for us to do.
Amen.