Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
Mary had only just heard from the angel tidings that were going to be hugely impactful, life-changing, and complicated. Yet she did not get bogged down in analyzing the details but instead trusted in the word of God that came to her through the angel Gabriel. Rather than trying to fit the news she had received into a preexisting mold she allowed herself to be caught up in a new role in a new story.
One thing Mary did focus on in Gabriel's revelation was the fact that Elizabeth, her relative had conceived, and could no doubt use the help and presence of Mary. Mary's visitation to Elizabeth was as a new ark of the covenant bringing the presence of God powerfully into her life and situation. Although this was true Mary didn't arrive to be admired or to boast but rather to help as a humble servant. It was precisely this emptiness of self that made her such a fit vessel for the presence of her Lord.
Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
What did Mary accomplish by her presence? From our passage we can note two things in particular. The first was that the way she brought her Lord to Elizabeth caused Elizabeth to be filled with the Holy Spirit, making her rejoice as though she heard the exhortation from our first reading:
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
This impartation of the joy of the Spirit was something that the was accomplished even without words. But the second thing we saw Mary do was to provide the context. She explained better than any theologian could have the way God shown her great favor. But more than that, she invited Elizabeth, and indeed those "in every generation" to be part of that story. She invited Elizabeth to join her as a handmade proclaiming the greatness of the Lord, as one who feared him and revered his strength. Then together they would be among those lowly lifted up, those hungry filled with good things. In short, she insisted that the promises of God were not only to Abraham, nor only a select few, but to anyone who would learn to dispose herself before the Lord as Mary did, therefore, at least potentially, to the whole world.
Mary continues to bring the presence of her Lord to us who have been given to her as sons and daughters by him. She does this not for her own sake but so that we too can share in the joy of the Holy Spirit that she herself came to know and to cherish, and so that, being thus filled, we too can join her in rejoicing in God and proclaiming his greatness. If King David danced with abandon before the arc of the Old Covenant how much more cause have we for joy even than him? And even this great joy that is somehow only a pale reflection of the joy God takes in us when we allow Mary to show us the way.
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
He will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.
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