Gospel Reading: Lk 1:39-45
Mary set out in those days 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, “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 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.”
BLESSED ARE YOU WHO BELIEVED
Elizabeth lauds Mary for believing in the angel Gabriel at the annunciation. This elderly pregnant woman has realized the value of saying Yes to God with total submission. She remembers fully well what happened to her husband Zechariah who did not entertain with faith the same angel Gabriel who appeared to him in the Temple. As the two pregnant women happily interact with each other in Ein Kerem, Zechariah remains speechless. Stricken dumb for not being so keen on God’s action in his life, he has been silenced for six months now. Elizabeth joyfully welcomes Mary who visits her.
She speaks the famous lines now embedded in the Catholic prayer Hail Mary repeated by countless Catholics who daily recite the Rosary and the Angelus. They join in the joy of Elizabeth acknowledging Mary’s motherhood of the divine Son. There is so much joy in believing. Look at the two women cousins, one so old and the other so young. Rejoicing in the Lord closes down the generation gap. They are happily sharing together the same experience. God has intervened in both their lives. God has entered deep into their private and intimate selves. Now they are carrying two persons destined to start the ball of salvation rolling.
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Do you share in the joy that God has highly favored Mary?
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SOURCE: “366 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.