Posted by Today we celebrate the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as commemorating the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Since the Incarnation is the distinctively Christian dogma that marks it out from other religions, the Church rightly gives especial veneration to the mother of God incarnate, who was chosen to be the mother of the Word made flesh. The Council of Ephesus in 431 affirmed her to be the theotokos, the God bearer, for she conceived in her womb the Word made flesh. As the hymn has it
How blest that Mother in whose shrine
The great artificer divine
Whose hand contains the earth and sky
Ordained as in his Ark to lie
The Church honours Mary as pre-eminent among the saints, not as a figure of independent greatness in her own right, but rather in relation to the child whom she bore, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who are under the law, that they might obtain the adoption of sons.
Blessed were the chosen people
Out of whom her Lord did come
Blessed was the land of promise,
Fashioned for his earthly home
But more blessed was the mother,
She who bare him in her womb
God in Christ has entered the world to redeem us from the curse that fell upon our race as a consequence of the fall of man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The Church Fathers develop this point further by saying that Mary’s positive response to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, Be it unto me according to thy word, reverses Eve’s disobedience. Our vocation as Christians is to become by grace what he is by nature, who humbled himself to share our humanity that we might share his divinity. Mary is the supreme example of one who became by grace what he is by nature. It is therefore right that we celebrate her Conception, her Nativity, her Purification in the Temple, her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth (which we celebrate today) and her Dormition or Assumption.
Today’s feast marks the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. Yesterday we marked the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It is therefore fitting that we continue this theme by celebrating today Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. She had been informed by the angel who declared to her that she would bear a son named Jesus, that her own cousin Elizabeth, who had previously been barren, would also bear a son who would prepare the way for the coming of the Saviour. Mary therefore left her own home in Nazareth and travelled south into the hill country of Judea, where her cousin Elizabeth lived. She entered into the house of Zecharias, the father of John the Baptist, and greeted his wife Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. She said to her, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because these things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.” In response to Mary said the words that we have come to sing at Vespers, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” He had regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden and from henceforth all generation would call her blessed. For he that is mighty has magnified her and holy is his name. His mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations. He has showed strength with his arm and has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their seats and has exalted the humble and meek. He has filled the hungry with good things and has sent the rich empty away. He has in so doing fulfilled the promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nation of the earth would be blessed.
St. John Chrysostom states: “Thou seest, O beloved, how new and how strange a mystery is here! John is not born, but by leaping he speaketh; he is yet unseen, and he giveth warning; he is not yet able to cry, but by his acts he is heard; he draweth not yet by the breath of life, but he preacheth God; he seeth not yet the light, but he maketh known the sun; he is not come out of the womb, but he hasteth to pay the forerunner; in the presence of the Lord he cannot restrain himself; he rebelleth against the bounds set by nature, and struggleth to break out of the prison set by the belly; his longing is to herald the Saviour…. Great, saith John, is the mystery of that which taketh place here, far from the understanding of men are these doings. It is meet that I should do a new thing in nature for the sake of him who is making new things beyond nature. I see in the womb, because I see the Son of righteousness in the womb. I hear, because I am coming as the herald of the great word. I cry out, because I espy the only begotten Son of the Father clad in flesh. I bond for joy, for I see that he by whom all things were made, hath taken upon him the form of servant. I leap, because I think of the redeemer of the world being made flesh. I run before his coming, and herald his approach unto you with this, as it were, my confession.”
Let us celebrate this feast by making our own the words of today’s collect, “Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, unto all thy servants, the gift of thy heavenly grace, that even as the Blessed Virgin being made a mother hath been unto them the first step unto their salvation, so the godly and solemn memorial of her visitation, may be the bringer of an increase of peace.”