The Feast of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth

On March 25^th we celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the Mother of God. Today we celebrate her visit with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist; and in a few more weeks we’ll recall John’s birth. Our annual cycle of feasts never gets very far from Christmas.

Some biblical scholars regard this story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth as the high point of Saint Luke’s Infancy Narrative, although our tradition stresses the birth of Jesus. There are five stories in the set that make up this narrative, plus two stories about Jesus in the temple. The first two stories describe Gabriel’s announcements to Zechariah and Mary. The fourth and fifth are about the births of John and Jesus. These story lines might be two different histories except for their intersection with Mary’s visit and the aria she sings, the Magnificat. With this literary device Saint Luke accentuates the hidden roles of Mary and Elizabeth. They represent the Old and New Jerusalem, the people of God who have been and will always be attentive and eager to welcome God's intervention in our world. 

An unknown Kentucky poet has written of the Visitation:

Enticed, thy grace to her fecundity

discovered unexpected mother lodes

of courage in this woman-child. With glee

she braved the roads and disapproving scolds,

exploring fearlessly the angel’s bond.

She means to witness in her cousin’s room

the wind-blown benefit so far beyond

ancestral hopes, now seen in barren womb.

As ancient Betty hailed the queen of light

beneath the searching eyes of Roman rod

and Mary sang the failure of the night,

the solstice child saluted solstice God.

No power of earth supposed what these four knew,

the Providence that loves the least is true.