Today, we celebrate not just a visitation but the visitation.
And this visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth was chock full of surprises.
There was a whole lot of recognition going on.
Elizabeth tells us that her baby (the future John the Baptist) in her womb leapt for joy when he heard Mary’s voice. And she tells Mary what she recognized, which was that her baby recognized Mary, and presumably the baby Jesus within Mary’s womb.
At least, this is what this graced moment is suggesting.
Further, Elizabeth stated her recognition of several things that were going on in this sacred meeting: that she (Elizabeth) was “filled with the Holy Spirit“; that Mary was “most blessed among all women”; that “blessed was the fruit of her womb”; and that Mary was truly a great believer, and that she trusted that “what was spoken to her by the Lord was being fulfilled.”
Imagine all of this happening after a simple knock at the door.
Then Mary shared what she, too, had come to recognize. And in Mary’s famous Magnificat, she spoke of all of the great things that God was doing in her and through her and for her, and for Israel.
The promises of ages were coming true through her “yes” at that famous angelic visit just months before, and it was the “yes” that would forever change humanity.
Her “yes” also has become the model for all, the model for each christian, and the model of church.
This tiny and brief story becomes a huge and endless story of all and forever. It is echoed in both Zephaniah and Romans (there are two options for the first reading today).
For whenever God gets involved with us (and that is always and everywhere), his “visits” with and within us have huge consequences and fruitfulness, especially if and when we, too, recognize that presence — the presence of God-love!
Today, and every day for that matter, we are invited to say yes to God, yes to the Gospel, and yes to the Christ.
Our yes and our faith-filled responses are this story about Mary told again and again; it is part of the big God-story that will never end.
Do we, too, recognize our part in this story.
Are we, too, willing to respond like Mary with our own simple yes?
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
