Fourth Sunday of Advent (C): Luke 1:39-45
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. – Luke 1:45
A charming vignette.
Or so it seems.
One young pregnant cousin goes to visit an older pregnant cousin. They exchange a few words, and soon the encounter is over.
Is this merely a charming vignette? If so, then why does St. Luke bother to include it in his Gospel, his Good News, his orderly account of all that the Lord has accomplished in our midst?
There must be more.
Much, much more.
Allow me, then, dear readers, to be your guide as we explore the breadth and depth of this “vignette”. These two ideas are key for understanding this story: one, what we call the Visitation is really the full flowering, or the public manifestation, of visitations that Elizabeth and Mary have already experienced; two – this story is a wonderful example of the Lord’s own words: “I have come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it”.
Let us begin.
St. Luke introduces us to Zechariah and Elizabeth very early in his Gospel. They are described as “righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly”. Very high praise from a Biblical point of view. However, they are childless and advanced in years – like Abraham and Sarah, when we first meet them in the book of Genesis.
The first Visitation comes to Zechariah. The angel Gabriel announces to him that he and Elizabeth will have a son in their old age – a son who will be dedicated to the Lord and who will go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah. His son would be the Forerunner of the Promised One.
Zechariah, a priest, would know his Scriptures well. He would have known that similar messages were given to others in Israel’s past, such as Abraham and Sarah, the parents of Samson, and the parents of Samuel. Nothing here is unprecedented. God has done similar things before. But Zechariah hesitates. He cannot trust the message. He and Elizabeth are too old for childbearing. Though he knows the Scriptures, he cannot bring himself to believe that God could – or would – do a similar thing for him. He is a very good man, but he cannot make that leap of faith in the God who fulfills all His promises and who expands our world beyond anything we could have dreamed. Appropriately, Zechariah becomes mute. He cannot believe in this saving act of God – not yet – so he can no longer proclaim God’s goodness until what was promised comes to pass. We aren’t told how Elizabeth responded to this until they in fact conceive a child. Then, she praises God for His mercy.
Mary, a young virgin in Nazareth, is betrothed to Joseph, but not yet married. Interestingly, St. Luke says nothing about her righteousness before God until he gives us the story of the second Visitation. The angel Gabriel appears to her and announces even greater news. She, full of grace, is to be the mother of the Messiah, the one who will be called Son of the Most High. Now, she is troubled at first. She is a virgin, not yet fully married. In the Hebrew Scriptures, there is no precedent for this. In every time when anything like this happened, the woman was married. How could this wondrous thing happen – now – to Mary? Then, Gabriel invites Mary to open her mind and enlarge her heart to receive fully the message and to believe in it. Unlike Zechariah’s case, something unprecedented is about to happen. The Holy Spirit would come upon Mary, and she would conceive Jesus, while remaining a virgin. She would not be married – not yet – and Joseph would not be Jesus’ father. Nevertheless, the Lord is not abolishing the Law but fulfilling it. Everything in the Hebrew Scriptures was pointing to this moment, the coming of this child. God, who creates and renews His people; God, whoa fulfills every promise, was now about to fulfill THE promise. Mary, full of grace, allows the infinite Love of the Lord to expand her mind and heart to even include what everyone else would deem impossible, even suspicious. She commits herself fully to God’s call, and entrusts her future entirely to this infinite Love.
As the story unfolds, Zechariah is struck dumb, and will only be able to speak again when John the Baptist is born. Joseph is struggling with what was announced to Mary (as St. Matthew tells us), and wondering what to do about it. Neither man, at the moment, is going to be the best support for either woman. Yet, both women have experienced the overflowing Love of God in an amazing way. Both have been graced.
As human beings, we have the desire and the need to share with someone else any great, wondrous event that has happened to us. We seek out someone who will understand, or who we hope will understand. Why? The gift we have received is intensified in the telling. It is intensified when someone else receives it, sees it, mirrors it and praises it. Such a visitation of grace as Elizabeth and even Mary have received can only be completed by sharing it with someone else. But who? Zechariah is speechless; Joseph is struggling, like Jacob with the angel.
This is why Mary goes to Elizabeth. Not so much to help her out in her need (St. Luke says nothing of this), but to proclaim what God has done for her to the one person she knows who is most likely to understand. What happens? What will Elizabeth say? Will Mary need to explain everything? Will Elizabeth even believe Mary? Before Mary can tell Elizabeth anything beyond a greeting, Elizabeth sees, welcomes, mirrors, knows. Welcoming the Holy Spirit, she has no choice but to sing in praise of how God has blessed them, especially Mary:
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 the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
God has already done the prep work in Elizabeth’s heart. Elizabeth is open to the Holy Spirit. She sees, knows, accepts, and proclaims the praise of God’s goodness of Mary’s sublime and deep faith.
Mary is full of grace, but is very human. She is overwhelmed by the sheer gift of the moment. Elizabeth already sees, knows, believes. Imagine the very human relief, and then great gratitude and joy, that Mary feels. She, too, is filled with the Holy Spirit. She, too, will bring her own Visitation to completion here. Our Gospel reading does not include it (sadly), but Mary bursts forth in the wondrous hymn of praise that we know as the Magnificat. Now Mary is ready to return to Nazareth, as the graces she was given have come to full flower through the friendship and love of Elizabeth, and Mary’s own willingness to let her joy burst forth in song. The Holy Spirit is everywhere in our little reading, bringing life and faith and joy where none seemed possible. God’s promises are, even now, being fulfilled.
How might we understand the Visitation story today?
Let me share with you a story I became aware of recently. On December 1, Fr. Eugene Florea, a priest of the diocese of Phoenix, made temporary vows as a hermit for the diocese. His visitation began about two years after his ordination in 2007. He was a young, healthy, enthusiastic priest, doing parish ministry very successfully.
He was visited.
He began to experience an attraction to contemplative prayer and solitude, especially in the style of the Carmelites. He took this desire to his bishop.
Now, Fr. Eugene is a diocesan priest. Diocesan priests are rarely called to the contemplative life. Moreover, every diocese struggles to staff its parishes. Each has policies and plans and “slots” to help it do just that. All this is good and right, as far as it goes. Bishop Olmstead, on hearing this from Fr. Florea, could have simply said nothing. The silent treatment, in the hopes that Fr. Florea would pass out of this phase and ‘wake up’. The bishop could have insisted that Fr. Florea, being a diocesan priest, must do diocesan ministry according to the plans and policies in the diocese, and must fit into one of the pre-determined “slots”. The bishop could have simply given Fr. Florea “carte blanche” to do whatever he wanted.
Bishop Olmstead was also visited.
He did none of the above. He was open to the possibility that Fr. Florea had a true call from the Lord which, though it might not fit into any “slot”, would be equally valid and a great blessing for the diocese. Bishop Olmstead put the Holy Spirit over his own plans.
Accordingly, the bishop and Fr. Florea met several times, discussing Fr. Florea’s growing awareness of his calling, and came to a conclusion that neither one thought of at first: that Fr. Florea was being called to be a diocesan hermit, as a diocesan priest, according to the Carmelite spirit. No doubt, both the bishop and the priest felt a similar outpouring of the Spirit as they came to recognize, affirm and embrace Fr. Florea’s calling. There is also no doubt that the acceptance of Fr. Florea’s calling will be a great source of grace and blessing for the Diocese of Phoenix, and all who minister there. I personally expect an increase in vocations to all ministries in Phoenix as a result. Once the Holy Spirit is welcomed and allowed to override diocesan rules as needed (but always to fulfill their purpose, never to abolish those rules), the community who entrusts itself to the Spirit, whatever its needs, will find overwhelming blessings coming to them.
Have you had a Visitation of your own? Have you found a true spiritual friend to share it with, so that the graces you received may explode in your heart? Can you believe that all that the Lord has promised you will be fulfilled?
Look to Mary and Elizabeth. Turn to them in humble, trusting prayer. Allow them to help you be open to the inbreaking of the Spirit in your life. Then, when your joy bubbles over, let your Magnificat ring! The world desperately needs to hear YOUR praise of God, made possible by that friend who sees, welcomes, affirms and praises your faith.