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Fourth Week of Advent - Tuesday
December 21, 2004
Blessed are you among women,
And blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Luke 1: 42
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Blessed Among Women
The young Mary must have surprised everyone at home when she announced that she was going to Judea to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth. If she had tried to explain why she was going, no one would have believed her. Who would believe that an angel had appeared to her and told her that Elizabeth, who was well past her child-bearing years, was in her sixth month? And of course she had her own secret too, announced by the angel as well, which would be very hard to explain.
So she set out, apparently alone, and traveled south through unfriendly Samaria to the hill country of Judea and to Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth could barely contain herself when she saw her young cousin. They embraced and talked excitedly, and Elizabeth in her exuberance exclaimed in words most of us learned as children, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"
Mary stayed with Elizabeth until near the time she gave birth to her child John. They must have sat and talked for hours on end, drawn together by the special bond shared by expectant mothers. Elizabeth felt like a young woman again, and Mary, hardly more than a child herself, blossomed into womanhood. At times they fell silent as they sat together, each thinking about the strange circumstances surrounding the child stirring within her. And this too created a bond between them.
The historical record makes no further mention of Elizabeth after the birth of John, and details of the life of Mary are sparse. Little is known of the years Mary lived in Nazareth with her husband Joseph and the child Jesus. She appears a few times during the public life of her son. She felt a mother's deep concern when she saw that he faced bitter opposition from many who heard him speak. Early on she began to fear for his safety. She remembered the words of an old man who had spoken to her in the temple when she and Joseph had brought Jesus as an infant for ritual observance, about how a sword of sorrow would pierce her heart.
And in the end her worst fears were realized. She found herself in a place she never could have imagined, standing at the foot of the cross, watching her son in the indescribable agony of his crucifixion, her own heart breaking. What would she think of Elizabeth's blessing now? Could any faith be strong enough to see a blessing in this?
Her faith saw her through even this. It was the same faith that had carried her through all the seasons of her life. She accepted the cruel ending of her son's life in the same way she greeted its joyful beginning, with the words, "Be it done according to your word." And in this she is the model for our faith too.
O Antiphon
Come,
Radiant Dawn,
Splendor of eternal light, sun of justice,
Shine on those lost in the darkness of death!
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