"What was spoken to you by the Lord will be fulfilled"

Immediately after the Annunciation, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, whose pregnancy was revealed to her by the archangel, to bring the comfort of her presence and help to this elderly relative who was with child. But the child Elizabeth was expecting was Saint John the Baptist, chosen by God to be the precursor of Jesus Christ, who would recognize in him the Savior of the world. In fact, John miraculously gave this witness while still in the womb, leaping for joy as Mary came near carrying Jesus in her womb.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth suddenly understood that the child's jump meant the presence of the Savior and that this could only been explained because Mary was his mother! She grasped all this at once. She knew the perfect virtues of her cousin Mary, so it was Mary who had become the virgin mother of the Messiah according to Isaiah’s prophecy! Overwhelmed by joy and gratitude that Mary had come to see her, Elizabeth exclaimed:

"You are blessed among all women and the fruit of your womb is blessed! How can it be that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ... Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled!"

It was then that Mary's expression of thanksgiving burst out in a hymn that is the summit of all poetry and eloquence, with a fullness of perfection that is not found anywhere else: the Magnificat. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Mary referred to texts of the Old Testament, but penetrated them so deeply that she elevated and transfigured their meaning.

John Daujat (d. 1998) - French philosopher of neo-Thomism, a disciple of Jacques Maritain, and the founder of the Centre d'études religieuses, (Center for Religious Studies), specializing in teaching Christian doctrine.