Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary : Monday 31st May 2021

Today we celebrate the loving occasion when the Mother of Jesus visited the mother of John the Baptist. As Mary and Jesus approached the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, he leapt for joy. He was aware of the presence of His Lord. Elizabeth, too, is also very aware, and she expresses surprise that the Mother of her Lord should come to visit her.  She clearly felt it should have been the other way round, even though Mary was by far the younger woman. “Why should I be honoured with a visit from the Mother of my Lord?”

Here, even before the birth of Jesus, we have a hint of what is to come. As Jesus will say much later during His public life: “I have come to serve and not to be served.”

Mary, too, sings her famous song, which we know as the Magnificat, from the first word of its Latin version. In it, she praises God for recognising her, “his lowly handmaid”, and for pulling down “princes from their thrones and filling the hungry with good things.” This will be the mission of Jesus. And it is our mission too.

May we, too, Lord, have that same spirit of service and concern for the needy which filled Your life.