Mary Visits Elizabeth
Before leaving Mary, the angel told her also of the child which was soon to be born to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary therefore hastened to visit her cousin, that they might wonder and rejoice together. Where Elizabeth’s home lay, we do not know. One tradition locates it at Hebron, the ancient city of Abraham, in the southern mountains; another places it in a village close to Jerusalem.
Mary, reaching the house, hurried in eagerly, calling to Elizabeth. At the sound the older woman was suddenly and profoundly stirred, was “filled with the Holy Ghost”, so that she cried aloud in sudden ecstasy, “Blessed art thou among women.” Then she humbled herself before Mary; for it was given her to know the other’s destiny. “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Thus encouraged and believed in, Mary burst into that beautiful chant of thanks and praise, known as the Magnificat. It begins, “My soul doth magnify the Lord”, and goes on to glorify the Wisdom which had chosen her, poor, simple, and ignorant, rather than some great queen or prophetess, to be God’s mother upon earth.
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