Our Lady Rises on the Feast of the Visitation

Our Lady Rises on the Feast of the Visitation Mary set out to the hill country in haste. The Visitation is important to linger with the fact that it involves a rising above or upward movement. For many of us, we know of her downward movement. She comes down from Heaven at Lourdes . . . down from Heaven to Fatima. Yet, this Feast Day involves the first Marian visit going upward, ascending toward someone (St. Elizabeth). Why does Our Lady set out in such haste to the hillside? St. Luke tells us she was in a hurry to get to the hill country. With Christ in her, she rises to the hills. Why in haste? Because Jesus wants to visit the home of St. Elizabeth. The haste of Our Lady is in part, the haste of Our Lord. Why in a hurry to visit Elizabeth? The angel told Our Lady Elizabeth was already in her sixth month, because nothing is impossible for God. When the angel tells Mary of an impossibility, that she will be the Mother of God, she is also told of another impossibility. Elizabeth, old as she is, will have a child. Elizabeth’s child is a sign for Our Lady, that nothing is impossible for God. Hear the significance of this second impossibility for Our Lady. Hear more within the Homily. We don’t know all of what Our Lady said to her cousin. That is strange, because St. Luke gives us every word in the Magnificat. We only know that the sound of Our Lady’s greeting was powerful, for both St. Elizabeth, and her unborn child. Linger with that image for a while. What would the sound of a woman pregnant with God actually sound like? Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Our Lady Rises on the Feast of the Visitation. -------------------------- Image: Mary and Elizabeth: Dutch Painter: Carl Bloch -------------------------- Gospel Reading: Luke: 1: 39-56