Our Blessed Mother in Luke’s Gospel has just accepted the invitation to become the Mother of God. What does she do? She doesn’t go to Disneyland, worry about her health, or start shopping for a royal dress. She thinks of her cousin Elizabeth and hurries to help her. That’s Our Mother then and now. With the Feast of the Visitation we conclude “mother’s month”: the Church expresses her love and devotion to Mary, singing her praises through May, like Elizabeth, while Mary sings the praises of the Lord to us and hurries to help us, not thinking of herself.
Today’s First Reading describes the joy she will have at the coming of Our Lord. Israel’s misfortune has been reversed with his arrival, even though the majority of Israel doesn’t know it yet. The Lord and Giver of Life inspires her to sing the Magnificat and praise the Lord for the wonders he has put into motion through her fiat. Mary has brought us the greatest cause for Elizabeth’s joy, John’s joy, and our joy: her Son, the Son of God. Together we bask in the glow of our salvation.
Let’s thank Our Lady for her motherly closeness during this May that is concluding, and let’s ask her, as we enter into June, a month especially dedicated to her Son’s Sacred Heart, to help us draw closer to him as well.
Readings: Zephaniah 3:14–18a; Isaiah 12:2–3; Luke 1:39–56.
