ADVENT: Week 3, Day 2 - A BLESSING

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”  Luke 1:39-45

There is a lot we don't know about the 80-mile journey that Mary took from Nazareth to Judea in her first trimester of pregnancy. It seems highly unlikely that she went alone but nobody else is mentioned in the story. I can imagine that she might have had some morning sickness or experienced fatigue and had to stop to rest along the way. One wonders why she felt this urgency to visit Elizabeth. Was it for advice or moral support? Was it to tell her the news of her pregnancy or to congratulate Elizabeth or just to accompany Elizabeth in her last trimester.

Perhaps what Mary needed most was a blessing from Elizabeth. In her hometown, as an unwed pregnant teenager, she would have been shamed and shunned. No one would have believed her story! Perhaps Mary wondered or feared how she would be received by Elizabeth. I can imagine the meeting of these two women! What joy and comfort to be with another woman who shared pregnancy under unusual circumstances. Even the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaped for joy when they greeted each other. Elizabeth wasn't judgmental and didn't hesitate to offer a blessing and words of joy to Mary. She served as a prophetic role in recognizing and affirming God at work in Mary's life. Elizabeth words helped Mary live into her calling to carry the son of God. The joy and blessing from Elizabeth elicited Mary's song of God's justice and mercy, a song that turns the world right side up. And I imagine Mary's support of Elizabeth was comforting in her old age.

Mary and Elizabeth

Mary and Elizabeth

two strong women

whose wombs

carried two strong men

Mary and Elizabeth

two hospitable women

with wombs wide, full

of grace and conversion

Mary and Elizabeth,

two generous women,

nurturing nests,

embracing seedling life

in their bodies’ secret homes

Mary and Elizabeth,

two loving women,

blessing one another

with the grace of affection,

strength of communion

Mary and Elizabeth,

did they know the dance

within their wombs

might change a hurting heart,

transform a languished life

Mary and Elizabeth,

two holy women

wombs gestating goodness,

sources of nurturing grace

yeast for every inner birthing

~Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary

Song: Holy is His Name, John Michael Talbot (Mary's Song - Luke 1: 46-55)

Reflection:

• What does it mean to speak words of blessing to others? What does it mean to receive words of blessing?

• Consider your own places of community. Who do you turn to for support and affirmation?  Who has believed in you -- perhaps when you could not believe? 

Who has recognized and blessed what is taking form in you? Have you done this for

another?

• In this Advent season, how will you use the power you have to bless others? How might God be calling you to offer a blessing—or to receive one? 

• Using Mary’s Song (Luke 1:46-55) as a model, you are invited to write your own Magnificat, a song God has placed in you.

Prayer:  May I be ready to bless and affirm others and also open to receive a blessing.

References

1. Harader, J. (2022). Expecting Emmanuel: Eight Women Who Prepared the Way.

   Harrisonburg VA: Herald Press.

2. Rupp, J. (2000). Out of the Ordinary. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press