“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” [Luke 139-42]
[L] Mosaic on the front external wall of the Church of the Visitation, Ein Karim, showing Mary on her way from Nazareth to Ein Karim. [R] A fresco inside the Church of Visitation, Ein Karim.
Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, who in her old age was considered barren, was six months pregnant, for nothing was impossible to God [cf. Luke 1:36]. On being told of this, Mary at once set out to a town in the hill country of Judah where Elizabeth resided. The theme of the Feast of the Visitation centers on Mary responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to set out on a mission of charity. In the Visitation narrative, therefore, we look to Mary as model of the apostolate of the Church.
Resuming the communal reflection at the St Ignatius Church’s parish feast day late July on the theme of “Fostering Unity Towards Mission”, we drew attention to three points from the Visitation that inform our understanding of mission.
1. Mary’s Journey is a Missionary Journey
Right after the Annunciation, Mary went “with haste” on the long and arduous journey (90 miles as the crow flies) from Nazareth to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea, a place we now identify as Ein Karim. Would she have walked, or would she have ridden a donkey? We do not know. What we do know is that she would have traveled along a land of hills and valleys strewn with many rocks. The most she could have covered in one day was 9 to 10 miles, so we are talking about a ten-day journey at the very least.
Remember that Mary was pregnant too. How many pregnant mothers today would risk the young lives they carry in their wombs and undertake such a difficult journey just to look after another pregnant woman? Would they not rather say they had a duty and a legitimate right to take care of their own interests first?
And she stayed with Elizabeth for nearly three months until after her delivery before she returned to Nazareth to tend to her own pregnancy.
At a celebration to conclude the month of Marian devotion in May last year, Pope Benedict XVI said: “Mary’s journey is an authentic missionary journey. It is a journey that takes her far from home, drives her to the world, to places that are foreign to her daily customs, makes her reach, in a certain sense, the limits of what she could reach.”
And Pope Benedict gives us a point of application.
- Like Abraham, he says, all Christians “are asked to come out of ourselves, of the places of our security, to go to others, to different places and realms. It is the Lord who asks this of us: ‘But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses … to the end of the earth’ (Acts 1:8)”.
2. Mary’s journey is a journey of charity, of solidarity and of concrete help
It was a strong spirit of charity that drove Mary on her mission to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth in her sixties was pregnant for six months. Mary, with her young age and closeness to Elizabeth, would be most useful to her. That was why Mary went to her and remained by her side for almost three months, to offer her affectionate closeness, and all those concrete daily services of which she was in need.
Here, we have two symbols relevant to mission.
First, Elizabeth becomes the symbol of all elderly and sick persons and of all persons in need of help and love. And there are many of them today, in our families, in our churches, in our neighbourhood and in our cities!
- Elizabeth as a symbol compels us to appreciate how important it is that we recognize the work of the care-givers as being close to God’s heart, and in turn hear the call to everyone to render such care where we can, and certainly to accord respect, solidarity and support to other care-givers.
Second, Mary, who described herself as “the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38), becomes the symbol and model for all Christians who love and serve the Lord in practical ways, by serving others who are in need.
- Mary as a symbol teaches us a profound truth and that is, the love of God is useless unless we can feel it, touch it and experience it. In other words, talks of the love of God are quite meaningless without doing something concrete. And that is fundamental for mission because that, in essence, is what the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God is all about in reality: “For God loved the world so much he gave his only Son” [John 3:16]. Incarnation is God walking the talk.
- We also see in Mary the extent of her missionary sacrifices in pursuance of her pro-life spirit. This spirit is pretty contagious in this story of the Visitation, for we further see in both Mary and Elizabeth a genuine unity in spirit: two women looking out for one another, and two women giving glory to God. And we begin to appreciate that that’s what we are all called to be: fostering unity towards mission, seeking the good of one another, and in all things giving glory to God.
- In this regard, groups of women in America form themselves into what they call the “Elizabeth Ministry”. They see the Visitation story as a shining example of the pro-life message. It shows beautifully the importance of the interaction between Elizabeth and Mary and the celebration of human life as a sacred gift from God. God rewarded Mary for her ‘yes’ by giving her what God knew she needed. And what she needed was not another angel visiting her, but another woman who would understand. Society was going to kill her for her choice but Elizabeth would say, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). Elizabeth too, has great need, especially as an elderly pregnant woman. Not only did she receive solidarity in spirit from Mary, but she was given great practical relief by Mary staying and helping her for three months. There is a fantastic unity in spirit between the two cousins, both pregnant, both understanding very well their common role in the mission of God. Drawing inspiration from all this, the Elizabeth Ministry defines its purpose as to “affirm, support, encourage and assist women in response to their needs during the childbearing years.” What a beautiful mission!
3. Mary’s journey is a journey of service and evangelisation
And then, on top of everything else, Mary brought to Elizabeth the most important gift – the Son of God. On this point, Mary may be called the mother of all missionaries. Again, in the words of the Holy Father, as Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, “we recognize the most limpid example and the truest meaning of our journey of believers and the journey of the Church herself. The Church is missionary by nature; she is called to proclaim the Gospel everywhere and always, to transmit the faith to every man and woman, and to every culture.”
Carrying Jesus in her womb, Mary blessed Elizabeth and the child in Elizabeth’s womb – St John the Baptist, who leaped with joy. Mary’s charity did not stop with service, but rather “reaches its culmination in giving Jesus himself.” When the unborn child in Elizabeth’s womb jumped upon hearing Mary’s voice, “we are, thus, at the heart and culmination of the evangelizing mission,” the Pope said. “We are in the truest meaning and the most genuine objective of all missionary endeavor: to give to all men and women the living and personal Gospel, which is the Lord Jesus himself.” As Christians, we must know that “Jesus is the true and only treasure that we have to give to humanity.”
This extraordinary responsibility is entrusted to all Christians, so that we may all contribute to building a civilization in which truth, justice, liberty and love will truly reign. But Mary’s Visitation teaches us that Christian mission of humanising the various social sectors ideally includes evangelization as well. And the Lord has given us Mary as a traveling companion, reminding us that her Son Jesus is always with us.
And so it is. In the Visitation narrative we look to Mary as model of the apostolate of the Church. She brings Jesus and a blessing on the house of Zechariah. The experience of the primitive Church was that the power of the Lord was the greatest gift it had to offer. To bring Jesus to others will always be the cornerstone of any genuine apostolate. The Church’s mission is to show Jesus as wisdom and power in each situation of human need.
The Magnificat set in ceramic in 57 languages, on a garden wall at the Church of Visitation, Ein Karim.
Mary’s mission to Elizabeth springs from her compassionate heart. There is power in compassion. So we conclude on a short story of school girls unknowingly converting a bereaved family through their love and compassion.
- A young school girl died in a traffic accident. Her bereaved parents were not Christians. To console her parents, a group of her classmates, all young Catholic girls in junior secondary, went to her house to pray the Rosary every night for a month. Seeing the charitable spirit of those girls, and sensing their fidelity and friendship with their departed daughter, her parents were deeply moved. Through the compassionate hearts of those young girls, God consoled the bereaved and touched their souls, and they soon went on to embrace the Catholic faith.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, January 2012. All rights reserved.
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