Elizabeth and Mary teach us a few things today in our Gospel-
1.Mary’s Service-
Luis Angel is a professional cleaner. A new client texted him the address and said the key was under the mat. Luis Angel arrived, found the key, and got to work. After three hours of mopping and scrubbing, he was done. Just then, his client called ask where he was. “I’m in your living room playing with your cats,” said Luis Angel. The client said, “I don’t have cats.” And that’s how Luis Angel learned he had broken into a stranger’s home and cleaned it for free.
There is a saying in philosophy which says that that good is diffusive of itself. Another way to put it is to say that happiness is actually multiplied when shared with others. That is includes sharing our faith in action as much as possible–
God does not want us to navigate the twists and turns of our lives alone. Elizabeth, who was already five months pregnant, had known the struggle with infertility, and Mary goes to be with her for the remainder of her pregnancy.
The truly compassionate and kind person who gives up her time for others will manage to find time. Like the bread, miraculously multiplied, she gives, and yet he gathers up for himself more than he gave. “Charity seeketh not her own: (1 Cor. 13:5).
e.g. In his book Encouragement—the Key to Caring, Lawrence Crabb tells how he made some changes in his life, beginning at home. “When the idea first became clear to me that every word I utter should be governed by the motivation of ministry, I struggled to build a new mental tape library. When I arrived home from work every evening, I remained in my car a few minutes and repeated to myself, ‘My goal as I walk through the front door is to minister to my family. I sure hope I’m greeted by a happy wife, delightful kids, and a working refrigerator, but no matter what I discover inside, my purpose is to minister in love to my family.’
Heart-based people look out at reality with soft eyes, so we can become encouragers of one another. It’s easy to be critical or withdrawn. It’s not so easy to offer encouragement in healthy ways. [Richard R.]
2. “the infant in my womb leaped for joy,” says Elizabeth—
Within her womb is Jesus, still only an embryo, Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, whom she has come to visit, is present, along with John the Baptist, her son, who is still within her, but her unborn baby jumps for joy.
“Spiritual joy,” wrote St. Francis of Assisi, “arises from purity of heart and perseverance in prayer.”
Perfect purity brings one closer to God, says St. Louis de Montfort, from his book, The Love of Eternal Wisdom.
Thomas a Kempis adds, “The joy of a good person is the witness of a good conscience; have a good conscience and you shall have gladness.” In his list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul lists joy as second only to love in Galatians 5:22.
3.Upon completion, a Roman artist made a beautiful statue of the Emperor; it was very realistic, but then during summer, something embarrassing happened–the nose fell off. The statue was made of marble, but the nose was made of wax. A law was then passed that, from then on, all statues of the Emperor were to be made with no wax. The Latin words “without wax” are “sine cera.” It is from these words that we have derived the English word “sincere.”
Sincerity with Mary is calling her “most blessed among all women” and “the mother of my Lord,” like Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, does in our Gospel today. So, please note too that the Bible already venerates or honors Mary through the words of Elizabeth, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, called Mary most blessed among all women, and then Mary will prophesize in the Holy Spirit that all generations would call her, Mary, blessed.
St. Augustine said that, in Christ, each of us is Mary to some Elizabeth; so, too, each of us is an Elizabeth to some Mary.
The nearer I am to God, the nearer I’m drawn to others in charity. That’s the lesson: that the love of God and neighbor is born in us in Christ. It’s what Christmas is about. Amen.
