All Ages Do Call Her Blesssed

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;my spirit rejoices in God my savior.For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

This passage from the 1st Chapter of Luke's Gospel has always been one of my favorites. This Chapter is as Catholic as it could be. First it parallels Mary with Elizabeth, both pregnant from the Power of the Most High. It reinforces the fact that God is here to bring new life to a barren world; the barren Elizabeth to bring forth John the Baptist, who would proclaim the coming of the Christ and Mary the virgin, who would through her faithfulness bring Jesus the Messiah into the world. Elizabeth proclaims, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" a title that somehow eludes Bible toting Protestants even to this day. When we hear Elizabeth say "For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. There is an interesting Biblical insight that is present here. In 2 Samuel 6, after David decides to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem we read "As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart." Both Arks - the (old) Ark of the Covenant and the (new -Mary) Ark of the Covenant are good reasons to leap with joy and reasons to be despised, (Herod, the High Priests, Pontious Pilate). Finally Mary's beautiful Magnificat: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;my spirit rejoices in God my savior." and as we Catholics for all the ages have been doing "from now on will all ages call me blessed." The message here is that we as Christians are to reach out (as Mary did to Elizabeth) and carry the Word of God (present in Mary's womb) to others.