In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,
a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.
Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! "
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. "Don't be afraid, Mary," the angel told her, "for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"
Mary asked the angel, "But how can this happen? I am a virgin."
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What's more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail. " Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true."
And then the angel left her.
(Luke 1:26-38 NLT
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Luke 1:39-56
[39] At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
[40] where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.
[41] When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
[42] In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the child you will bear!
[43] But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
[44] As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
[45] Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her
will be accomplished!"
[46] And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
[47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
[48] for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
[49] for the Mighty One has done great things for me --
holy is his name.
[50] His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
[51] He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
[52] He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
[53] He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
[54] He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
[55] to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
[56] Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
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The Significance of the Visitation:
Arriving at the house of Zachary (or Zacharias) and Elizabeth, Mary greets
her cousin, and something wonderful happens: John the Baptist leaps in
Elizabeth's womb Luke 1:41).
As the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 puts it in its entry on the Visitation,
Mary's "presence and much more the presence of the Divine Child in her womb,
according to the will of God, was to be the source of very great graces to
the Blessed John, Christ's Forerunner." John's leap was no ordinary movement
of an unborn child, for as Elizabeth tells Mary, "as soon as the voice of thy
salutation sounded in my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy" (Luke 1:44).
His joy, the Church has held from the time of the early Church Fathers,
came from his cleansing at that moment of Original Sin,in accordance with
the angel Gabriel's prophecy to Zachary, before John's conception, that "he shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15).
As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes in its entry on St. John the Baptist,
"as the presence of any sin whatever is incompatible with the indwelling
of the Holy Ghost in the soul, it follows that at this moment John was cleansed
from the stain of original sin."
Elizabeth, too, is filled with joy, and cries out in words that would become part
of the Hail Mary, "Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,"
before acknowledging her cousin as "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:42-43 ).
Mary responds with the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), a canticle or biblical hymn
that has become an essential part of the Church's evening prayer (vespers).
It is a beautiful hymn of thanksgiving, glorifying God for choosing her to be
the mother of His Son, as well as for His mercy
"from generation until generations, to them that fear Him."
