Luke 1: 39-56

When the Angel had left her Mary didn’t waste a minute.
She got up and travelled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,

“You’re so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, the babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true!

And Mary said,
“I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened – I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now”.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.

Gospel Reflection

This weekend we celebrate the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven and the special place that Mary takes in our lives as Catholics. Today’s Gospel recounts the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.

When Luke speaks of Mary, he thinks of the communities of his time which lived dispersed in the cities of the Roman Empire and offers to them, Mary as a model of how they should relate to the Word of God.

Once, hearing Jesus speak about God, a woman in the crowd exclaimed: “Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you”, praising the mother of Jesus.

Immediately Jesus answered: “More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”.

Mary is the model of the faithful community which knows how to live and practice the Word of God. In describing the visit of Mary to Elizabeth, he teaches how the communities should act in order to transform the visit of God into service of the brothers and sisters.