It was a quiet, ordinary day in the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. It was clear now that Elizabeth was carrying a child within her. Both she and Zechariah were very happy about the coming birth—even though he had not been able to speak since it had been his turn to offer sacrifice in the temple almost six months before, and even though childbirth was dangerous for a woman as old as Elizabeth. The Lord had delivered Elizabeth from her barrenness. He had heard their prayers! They need no longer be ashamed because they had no children.
Elizabeth sat down after she swept their simple home. She got tired so easily! She drank some water and rested, thankful for this warm spring day. Zechariah had gone out into the village. Maybe she would just close her eyes for a few minutes…
But then she heard someone call her name. Who was it? As she quickly opened her eyes, the child in her womb kicked like he never had before. Oh, my! It was her cousin Ann and her daughter Mary from Nazareth. What a surprise!
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.”
Elizabeth was surprised at the words she had just spoken… “the mother of my Lord…Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Elizabeth was not sure she understood what she was saying. Yet it had the clarity and peace of Truth.
What great joy filled her!
And now, Mary, too, expressed the most beautiful words:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
The Beauty of the Visitation
When I pray today’s New Testament reading as part of the rosary or just as a Scripture meditation, the scene is always very clear to me. I can see the two women with faces translucent with joy. I put Mary’s mother, Ann, in the scene, too, because Elizabeth lived at least 130 kilometers (81 miles) from Mary, several days journey. Mary would not have made that journey alone. I imagine at least her mother, perhaps both her parents, went with her.
Today is the Feast of the Visitation, the Church’s celebration of this wonderful encounter of joy. The child in Elizabeth’s womb was John the Baptizer. Even from before birth, he “made straight the way of the Lord.” His movement in the womb led to his mother’s recognition of her cousin as “the Mother of my Lord.” Her words led Mary to proclaim what we know today as the Magnificat.
Gabriel had announced John’s conception and birth to Zechariah. Five months later he visited Mary to announce that she, too, would conceive a child—her child by the Holy Spirit. Now it was Elizabeth’s sixth month and Mary came to visit her.
The child Jesus within Mary’s womb would have been very small—about the size of a poppy seed.
Yet his Presence brought great joy—to Mary, to Elizabeth, to John. They recognized Jesus by that Presence of Joy through the Holy Spirit.
Recently it occurred to me that this was the first time Jesus visited a home to bring healing and joy—when he was the size of a poppy seed. As an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, I have often carried Jesus to go visiting older women and men. I observe the same joy in his Presence.
There is the smile. The laughter. The conversation about very important matters. The deep questions. The worries. The yearning. All when Jesus comes.
But, of course, we do not have to carry a pyx to carry Jesus.
When we leave mass, we carry Jesus. Then he comes to MY house.
When we let ourselves be filled with the Fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control—we carry Jesus.
And where Jesus goes, he makes a difference–if we let him.
I must admit, most of my life, I carried Jesus home without thinking of it that way. In those days I didn’t talk about my faith. I didn’t make the reality of Jesus real to my children. Honestly, my own belief had not traveled from my head to my heart.
It wasn’t until I began carrying Jesus to the Carebound that the image of Jesus making home visits came home to me. I first wrote this reflection in 2018. I had another reflection started for today, but this one is far better. It brings tears, because our parish is preparing to again take the Presence of Christ in Eucharist and community to our Carebound. The way our parish does it was recently endorsed by our bishop. We are free now to share it with others.
All this feels like I am with child, as was Elizabeth. In this, my “old age,” I will be part of teaching a way of doing communion calls that beautifully applies the methods of catechesis described in the 2020 Catechetical Directory. More of that another day. For now, it is good to say the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and exult with Elizabeth and Mary.
Prayer
Lord, I thank You that You make home visits even today, and that I will again soon be carrying You. When a priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister of communion carries You, Lord, to the sick and Carebound, You come with the same potency You had when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. You are just as present as You were in Judah when Your Mother carried You with her to see and serve her cousin Elizabeth and her child, John. You are spiritually present any time any of us responds to a prompt of the Holy Spirit to visit a new neighbor, pop in for a few minutes to check on aging parent or busy sibling, or when we welcome others into our homes. You are present in our hospitality.
Lord, today, in areas where it seems safe to carry the Eucharist again into homes, bless our efforts and lead us with both prudence and fervor to “make straight the way of the Lord.”
