Rosary: The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth
The Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary
The Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Feast Day: May 31st (July 2nd in TLM
)
Luke 1:39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40 And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.
46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 Because He that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is His Name. 50 And His mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him. 51 He hath shewed might in His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away. 54 He hath received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy: 55 As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
56 And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house. 57 Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son.
Mary has compassion for her elderly relative and comes to help and care for her even while Mary is pregnant. The Queen of the Universe has compassion for the lowly and comes to aid them. Even though she is royalty, she exemplifies perfect humility and shows perfect charity in aiding Elizabeth in the final three months of her pregnancy.
Elizabeth is given a revelation about Mary from the Holy Ghost. Even before Our Lady has a chance to give any news to Elizabeth, Elizabeth already knows that Mary is pregnant with Our Lord, God Himself. Mary doesn’t tell her this, it was revealed to her by the Holy Ghost. From this, Elizabeth shows her shock and awe that the Mother of God would come to visit her.
2 Samuel 6:9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me?
Luke 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Take note of that title said by Elizabeth to Our Lady. Mother of my Lord. Mary is already His mother, even though she is in her first trimester. God Himself has spoken about the personhood of babies in the womb. You can only be a mother to a person. Our Lady is already mother of Our Lord and not carrying a blob of cells.
Something else to notice in that passage above. It is Mary’s salutation that caused John the Baptist to leap in his mother’s womb. At the same time Mary’s voice initiates the Holy Ghost to flood Elizabeth’s soul. Elizabeth is inspired by the Holy Ghost to declare that Mary is the Mother of the Lord. Mary is not the source of the Holy Ghost nor does she command Him. But God works THROUGH mankind to convey His saving grace to other men. The Holy Ghost worked through Our Lady to bring Himself to St. Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist.
This is also when John the Baptist is filled with the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and he has the stain of Original Sin washed away from his soul. Free from all sin at this point, John the Baptist avoids all sin for the rest of his life. John the Baptist is one of three people to be born without Original Sin (Our Lord and Our Lady were both conceived without Original Sin).
After this divinely inspired message from Elizabeth, Mary give her beautiful and monumental Magnificat. Read carefully Mary’s words. Her souls MAGINIFIES the Lord. Think about that statement and really ponder on it. Because we are so familiar with this utterance from Our Lady, we gloss it over and never really consider how stunning of a statement it truly is. The Creator of the entire universe, the infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God all all creation, is magnified by Our Lady’s soul! Always realize that if we come to God to have Him cleanse our souls and then go do the good works that He wants from us, we by our obedience to Him are magnifying Him through the good works that He has prepared for us.
Mary’s Magnificat then goes on to give multiple examples of how the proud are humbled and the lowly are raised up by God. She recounts how He, time and time again, showers blessings on those who are humble and obedient to Him and punishes those who are not. Always be humble and let the Lord redeem you.
Some accuse Catholics of honoring Mary too much and placing too much emphasis on her. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding of salvation and the New Covenant. No person has ever found Jesus by themselves. They are always brought to Him by at least one other person. The one exception to this rule is Our Lady, because the Holy Ghost conceived Our Lord in Mary. The Word became flesh in her.
And through her perfect obedience to God’s will, Mary brought (and still brings) Jesus uniquely to all mankind. Every single person on earth was introduced to Jesus through Mary. That’s how Jesus set it up and wanted it. He made her for Himself. (He didn’t choose Mary from among all the women on earth, but instead He made and created her for Himself to be His mother.)
Genesis 3:15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
Even back in the Garden of Eden, God proclaimed how He would bring about the vanquishing of Satan and that He would do it through “the woman”, which is Our Lady. Jesus is the seed/fruit of Mary’s womb, and both Genesis 3:15 and Luke 1:42 point this out. Children everywhere else in Scripture are the seed of their fathers. But here in Genesis 3 and Luke 1, it declares that Our Lord is the seed and fruit of Our Lady. He is her seed, and she, the lowly Handmaid of the Lord, through Christ’s power will crush the head of Satan.
One point in this article that was not heavily addressed was the typology of the Ark of the Covenant with Our Lady. When you see how many almost identical similarities there are between the Ark and Our Lady, you realize that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. A great article to read about this is at Catholic.com.
They do a great job pointing out how the original Ark contained the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments (the word of God), a jar containing the manna from the desert (the bread from Heaven) and the staff of Aaron who was the High Priest. When you compare this to Mary, you realize that in her womb she held Jesus Christ, the Word of God who is the Eucharist, which is our Bread of Heaven and Jesus is the great and eternal High Priest in Heaven. The typology of the Old Covenant always pointed to a greater reality that would become the New Covenant. Mary is our Ark of the New Covenant.
Links to the other Mysteries of the Rosary
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Third Joyful Mystery - The Nativity of Jesus (coming soon)
Fourth Joyful Mystery - The Presentation in the Temple (coming soon)
Fifth Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (coming soon)
SORROWFUL MYSTERSIES
First Sorrowful Mystery - The Agony in the Garden (coming soon)
Second Sorrowful Mystery - The Scourging at the Pillar (coming soon)
Third Sorrowful Mystery - The Crowning with Thorns (coming soon)
Fourth Sorrowful Mystery - The Carrying of the Cross (coming soon)
Fifth Sorrowful Mystery - The Crucifixion of Jesus (coming soon)
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
First Glorious Mystery - The Resurrection (coming soon)
Second Glorious Mystery - The Ascension of Christ (coming soon)
Third Glorious Mystery - The Descent of the Holy Ghost (coming soon)
Fourth Glorious Mystery - The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Fifth Glorious Mystery - The Coronation of Mary (coming soon)
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
First Luminous Mystery - The Baptism of the Lord (coming soon)
Second Luminous Mystery - The Wedding at Cana (coming soon)
Third Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (coming soon)
Fourth Luminous Mystery - The Transfiguration (coming soon)
Fifth Luminous Mystery - The Institution of the Eucharist (coming soon)
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