In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Visitation refers to that occasion after the Angel
Gabriel has revealed the conception of St. John the Baptist to Zacharias and
Elizabeth and after the same archangel came to both Mary and Joseph, revealing
Mary was to be the mother of God, when Mary traveled to visit her relative
Elizabeth. The reason for this journey is not given by God. Some speculate that
it has to do with protecting the Blessed Virgin from the contempt of her neighbors
and safeguarding the reputation of pious Joseph. By Mary leaving Nazareth for
three months, it was less likely the Holy Family would receive severe
criticism. When she returned, it may have been easier for the public to assume
the conception of Mary’s Son occurred after her marriage to Joseph.
This speculation may be true. It may be false. Either way,
it isn’t very helpful. What we know is that the Visitation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary to her relative Elizabeth was the occasion both for St. John to
leap in his mother’s womb and for the Blessed Virgin to sing the Magnificat.
There are two important lessons for us today: First, that we
are unworthy of the least of God or man’s attention, let alone mercy; and Second,
that we rejoice at the coming of our Lord.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth out
of absolutely nothing.[1]
Everything that was made was made through the Word of God according to the Will
of God.[2]
When God called Abraham and gave him the promise of countless generations,
blessings without number, and a land in which to dwell forever, God was again
building a people for Himself where there had been nothing. One of the commands
given to Abraham was to leave his father’s house. No longer was Abraham to
identify himself as of the lineage of Terah, but of the lineage of God. A new
generation had begun.
The Prophet Isaiah speaks in this way in our reading today.
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots.”[3]
It would be more accurately rendered the “stump” of Jesse. The Davidic line was
all but dead. The family tree of Jesse, the father of David, was cut down. It
was little more than a dried-up stump, devoid of hope. From this dead thing,
Life sprung forth. A new Rod, a Branch full of life will spring forth and endure
forever. This Rod is Christ, who is born of the Virgin Mary, herself a
descendant of David.
But Mary was not worthy. She belonged to the stump of Jesse.
She was poor, despised, and lowly. If tradition holds true that she was quite
young when she bore the Christ child and Joseph was quite old, then it is
likely the marriage was arranged for financial gain by her parents and to
ensure she could be supported by her established husband. There was nothing
remarkable about the Blessed Virgin. She daily went about her chores. She
attended the synagogue and heard the Word of God. She belonged to the faithful
remnant of Israel but even this was not particularly remarkable.
We see from the history of God’s actions that He chooses
that which is lowly, despised, poor, and nothing. God brings up the
downtrodden, frees the prisoner, and satisfies the hungry. He also casts down
the mighty, binds the strong, and sends the rich empty away. The Blessed Virgin
gives thanks that God has had mercy upon her and descended to her in her low
estate.
Do not, for one moment, assume that you are something great.
If you do, then God is not for you. Or the most you can expect from God is to
be cast down into the pit. We are poor, miserable sinners. You are a poor,
miserable sinner. You are nothing of importance to God or man. Even if you have
achieved great things in this world, there is always someone smarter, faster, better,
and more accomplished. If you are the greatest in the world, then know that
there are thousands who seek your downfall because man loves to watch the
mighty fall.
If you have achieved great things in this world, even the
greatness of raising a child, holding a steady job, or attending to the
gathering of the church, give thanks that these things do not make you precious
in the sight of the Lord. Give thanks because if even simple tasks made you
precious in the sight of the Lord, then your salvation would depend on consistently
achieving them. One misstep and you would be lost.
Instead, give thanks that there is nothing within you worth
the love of God because this means that He has regarded your low estate. This
means that you are poor, lowly, and despised, precisely the type of person for
whom God became man. Magnify the Lord because He looks upon you in love, not
because of what you have done or have failed to do, but because of what He has
done. He has called you by name to join Him on Mount Zion. God fills with you
good things, His very Body and Blood.
If you have the riches of Abraham, the poetry of David, or
the wisdom of Solomon, these things are trinkets before God. They are gifts of
God, bestowed upon you for the praise of Him. When the Blessed Virgin hears the
words of the Angel Gabriel, she rejoices that her Lord has condescended to be
with her. Jesus Christ is also with you, this day and every day.
In the Song of Solomon, the church proclaims, “The voice of
my Beloved! Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the
hills.”[4]
The Bridegroom calls to the Church out of great love and from a great distance.
Before we see our Lord, we hear His voice. Before the Virgin conceived, she
heard the Word of the Lord from the lips of Gabriel. Before John baptized his
Lord, he leaped in the womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. Thus at the sound of
the Word of our God, our ears perk up and our excitement heightens. The church
rejoices to see and know her Lord, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He
who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
And before we can move a muscle; before the church can take
any action of her own, Christ leaps down from Mount Zion, from the side of the
Father, to join His beloved bride on the plain. He descends lower than the
heavenly beings that He might join us in our flesh. I would rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked, but my
God would rather be born of a lowly virgin than institute an earthly kingdom by
force of man.[5]
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
[1]
Genesis 1:1.
[2]
St. John 1:1-3.
[3]
Isaiah 11:1.
[4]
Song of Songs 2:8. The following draws from Bernard of Clairvaux, “Sermon 53,” On
the Song of Songs, Vol 3, translated by Kilian Walsh and Irene M. Edmonds
(Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979), 58-67.
[5]
Psalm 84:10; St. Luke 1:42; St. Matthew 4:8-9; Acts 1:4-8.
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