Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus
These words, which continue to be part of our daily prayer, are rooted in today's Gospel scene of Mary's encounter with Elizabeth. We remember from yesterday's Gospel that the angel "himself gave Mary a sign", which was Elizabeth. The angel showed her where she should go. In today's Gospel we read: Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste. This haste expresses a willingness to follow God's word. At the end of today's Gospel, we hear the praise of such an attitude from the lips of Elizabeth " Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (cf. Lk. 1:45). Following God's call without hesitation, immediately bears extraordinary fruit. It was similar in the case of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, whom Jesus called at Lake Gennesaret. The Evangelist then emphasized: Then they abandoned their nets and followed him
(cf. Mk 1:18)
The Evangelist writes about Elizabeth welcoming Mary: the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit. (cf. Lk. 1: 41). She then spoke the words of blessing known from the "Hail Mary". It is very important that these words were completely in line with the greeting that Mary heard from the angel. So, they became a confirmation of that message. Here is the second person confirming the word of God. This confirmation was important. There was a rule in the Old Testament that the whole case in court should be based on two witnesses. One's testimony was not enough; it could be a symptom of a subjective experience. Elizabeth knew nothing of the Annunciation which Mary received, and she spoke completely in accordance with this Annunciation.
This short scene has a lot of depth. The scene of the Annunciation ended with the promise of the Holy Spirit, that Mary was to conceive by His power. Here the same Spirit gives Elizabeth the light of a knowledge of truth that she could not see with human eyes. The image contained in this scene is beautiful: " the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,". The Holy Spirit works deep within a person. The impulse from within lights up everything. John the Baptist in the womb of his mother says the first words of his message: He is the Son of God (see Jn. 1:34)
There is a mysterious understanding between these four people: the one who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is to go before the Messiah, through his Mother, utters the words of the message to the Mother of the Messiah himself, already present in her womb. All this agreement exists in the Holy Spirit. He is mysteriously present in this scene. And this is usually the case in His action: He does not appear as someone separate in dialogue, but as someone who gives understanding, gives the gift of encounter, creates harmony between persons, unity and love. He is a Person-Communion, a Person-Love, a Person-Meeting. We remember that the Lord Jesus, before his departure, promised his disciples: “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (cf. Jn. 16:13). This is the essential work of the Spirit: to lead to all truth.
And what is the Truth? It is not science or philosophy, not even life wisdom. It is God's love for us, a love that is fully united with us. But as full love it does not impose itself but expects an answer. God never forces, never enslaves, but always says: If you want, then come! God constantly speaks to us within us. Most often, however, we do not hear Him. His speech is the speech of love. It is beautifully expressed in the poem about love, which is "Song of Songs". Although he speaks of spousal love and never uses the word God, it was immediately interpreted as a loving dialogue between God the Bridegroom and the Man-Bride. Today we read one of the most beautiful parts of this text:
Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come!
My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see your face, let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
It may surprise us that God speaks to us, but it is. We may wonder what is so beautiful about us. But this is not accident. We do indeed have a lot of disorder, anger and even perversity. But this is not we, this are not real, this is the mask we wear towards others, even towards ourselves and God Himself. It is not to this mask that God addresses such words. The mask is not us in the deepest truth, that is, those that God created. This mask is our bondage.
“My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff.” Stop hiding, shutting down, become yourself. Who is my "I"? We know from experience that we have different faces, different "me" depending on the situation. This is due to the fact that "I" is always a response to a call, to a situation that requires some attitude from us. And depending on what it answers, our "I" is shallow or deep, true or false. We really become ourselves in meeting the other 'I', in dialogue with him. Karol Wojtyla wrote in "Love and Responsibility" that only a bond of love allows a person to become himself. We are born by hearing and responding to the call of love. However, our truest “I” is always a response to meeting with God. And the words of the Song about this call of God inside us speaks: Rise up, my friend, my beauty. Discover the truth about My love and about yourself.
The truest human response to this call of God was given by Mary in Nazareth. Its beauty is a true image of the beauty that God has in mind for each of us.
The last sentence from today's Gospel: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled", it has a different form in original text. Earlier, Elizabeth addressed Mary directly, in the original text in this sentence there is no second-person phrase ("you"), but a general third-person statement about "her". In this way, this sentence becomes true of anyone who meets its conditions. Of course, it points to Mary first, but it does not end there. Saint John Paul II clearly said of her that she became "Mother in faith" for us, that “she carried within her the complete newness of faith: the beginning of the New Covenant". She is a Guide, not merely a holy ideal. She gives us an example of how we are to live our lives.
Christmas is a time for us to listen to the intimate voice of God in our heart. Blessed are those who heard Him, believed and followed Him.
Until Tomorow
fr. george