When Mary visits Elizabeth

After announcing to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, the Archangel Gabriel told her that her cousin Elizabeth, older and so far unable to conceive, would be a mother in three months’ time, by another intervention of God. Mary was soon on her way to congratulate the happy mother.

This trip did not have a human motive. Having Jesus in her womb, Mary possessed all the riches and all the joys of Heaven. This was enough to fill her heart, and no further need agitated her heart. But she felt a duty of tender charity, an opportunity to exercise zeal, and an occasion to glorify God.

What’s more, the Holy Spirit was leading her: the meeting of the two expectant mothers, and especially of the two children they were carrying, was inscribed in the providential designs. So Mary made haste, she exposed herself to the fatigues of a long trip, and reached her destination. When Mary and Elizabeth met, Elizabeth's baby leaped in her womb, and she herself, seized by a prophetic spirit, exclaimed as she embraced Mary: “You are blessed among all women and blessed is the Fruit of your womb!” The Church has included her words to the prayer of the Hail Mary, making it one of the most beautiful Christian prayers that exists. And these words have indeed resounded everywhere through all the centuries since!

Thus, the mission of Jesus began before his birth. He sanctified John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, for this thrill which he felt while still in the womb announced the prophet who guessed the presence of his God, and the forerunner who recognized the Savior.

Father Jaud