“The Visitation” is my favorite mystery of the rosary. This part of our salvation story, begun in the readings Sunday and Monday, continues in today’s Gospel. It is easy for me to put myself in both Mary and Elizabeth’s places as I imagine the scene.
What might Mary have been thinking as she “traveled in haste” to visit Elizabeth? What was in her heart? I imagine excitement as she thinks of Elizabeth’s joy at being pregnant, yet perhaps concern for Elizabeth, too, because she was past child-bearing age in a time when many women died in childbirth. We do not know what it was like for Mary when the Holy Spirit came upon her and the “power of the Most High” overshadowed her to conceive Jesus. But we do know that when God comes to us, we are changed by even the briefest, light-as-a-feather encounter. So surely Mary considered and treasured however that had happened and whatever changes in her followed. I imagine Mary traveling with both a deep heart and a light step. I see her entering Zechariah’s house with a smile, perhaps some gifts, and her satchel packed, so she could stay to help out through Elizabeth’s final months of pregnancy.
Did Elizabeth know Mary was coming? Surely Joachim and Ann would not have let Mary go alone “to the hill country” to visit. Had they heard about Zechariah’s silenced tongue in the temple? Had they sent word ahead to Elizabeth? Or perhaps they accompanied Mary. We do not know. Whatever those circumstances, Elizabeth did not seem surprised at Mary’s visit. She recognized Mary’s voice, let the Holy Spirit speak through her as she and her infant within welcomed her. We heard Sunday and Monday, “Most blessed are you among women…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.”
Mary replied with the Magnificat: She began, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior…”
John Michael Talbot, composer of a version of the Magnificat often sung in the United States [Holy Is His Name] uses the word “exalts” instead of the word “rejoices.” I looked up the word “exalts.” It does not just mean “rejoice.” Its more precise meaning is, “to raise up, as to a deity, to honor.”
Mary, Elizabeth, and little John were rejoicing as they came together. Definitely. But this week, as I understood and used the word “exalt” to describe their rejoicing, a new layer of meaning was added to this, my favorite rosary scene.
I am seeing more than the human happiness I have seen before. I am seeing more than God taking care of Mary and Elizabeth by bringing them together. I am seeing more than a call to hospitality and service. I am seeing more than confirmation of the messages of angels.
I am reading Mary’s words carefully enough to see how Mary finds her happiness in her relationship with and dependent trust in God.
Mary, sinless, expresses neither fear nor pride about what has happened to her. Instead, her spirit exalts in God: she lifts up and honors God—her Savior. An understanding of the personal relationship she now has with God floods her soul, and she exalts in that personal relationship. That personal relationship changes everything—for Mary, for God, and for us.
This means more to me when I put it in context: Mary is in the early days of pregnancy in an era when unplanned pregnancy meant either a life of shame or death.
Yet Mary, seeing hard evidence that what Gabriel told her is true, exalts. She lets herself forget all those troublesome details of how what the angel said will come about. She trusts, lifts up, honors, and praises God “who has done great things for me”. She worships naturally as she realizes God’s goodness to her—even as He is using her great “yes” to the angel to expand that personal relationship to EVERYONE.
Mary let herself be immersed in her relationship with the Holy. As she did, she entered into the Holy, as the Holy had already begun to grow in her womb.
Wow!
History shifted. Something in Mary, Elizabeth, and John must have sensed it, as together they entered into exaltation.
My pastor has talked to me often about a continuum: from gratitude to God for what he has done–to praise to God for who God is—to worship, bowing heart, mind, and will to God, whose greatness, love, and mercy are endless.
Today, as I consider this scripture, it seems that exaltation is the cinchpin in that continuum. To fully worship, I must lift God up. I must exalt. To exalt, I can take a lesson from Mary, Elizabeth, and John: move from gratitude for what God does in my life to praise for who God is. Then, as that sinks a little into my too often concrete head and wooden heart, let myself enter, like a young girl silly with love, into relationship with the Almighty. Let myself forget myself as I let go of fears, hurts, selfishnesses, and shames. Who I am doesn’t matter. It is God who matters.
And God, as Mary exalting tells us:
…has mercy on those who fear him in every generation
…has shown the strength of his arm
…has lifted up the lowly
…has filled the hungry with good things
…and has remembered his promise of mercy
Today, as I write this, my house is a mess; I am not ready for Christmas; my foot hurts; I am tired; my heart struggles with many things.
So today I need to exalt: I need to remember God’s goodness to me. I need to rest in God’s nature of goodness. I need to raise God up in my heart and mind, to help me trust him as Mary, Elizabeth, and John trusted. I need to let myself enter into the Holy…not just alone, but, like Mary, Elizabeth, and John, with others—in community.
I can do that in the midst of the hospitality and chores of my life as Mary and Elizabeth did: I can exalt as God shows Himself in a call from an old friend, in a picture my grandson drew, in smell of cookies and thoughts of coming guests. When my heart leaps up, like John, I can exalt. When I receive someone like Elizabeth, I can exalt. When I reach out to someone like Mary, I can exalt.
And…I can plan some deliberate exaltation time before the crèche, in the quiet of the night, at mass or prayer group.
Prayer:
Lord, these last days before Christmas, help me to “exalt in God my Savior.” On Christmas, help me to “sing in exultation.” As I spend time with family and friends, let me find You in the middle of every dinner, visit, gift, complication, disappointment, unexpected visit, or greeting. Bring me beyond my concerns to remember the good things You have done for me. Bring me beyond gratitude to praise: to exaltation in Who You Are. Bring me beyond exaltation and praise to worship. Bring me from worship to whatever You would want of me. For that is how You seek to bring Joy to this little corner of the world.
(1 Sm 1:24-28; 1 Sm 2:1,4-8abcd; Lk 1:46-56)
