Joyful Mystery—The Visitation [2 of 20]

The Visitation by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728–1781)—an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, mainly active in and near Bologna

S

econd Joyful Mystery—The Visitation. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice: "Blest are you among women and blest is the fruit of your womb" (Lk 1:41-42).

In the 2006 film "The Nativity Story" we see a down-to-earth rendition of what it must have been like for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old Jewish girl to contend with the realities of her own time as any simple Jewish girl would in a Jewish household. In the same vein, French Philosopher Gabriel Marcel's notion that human beings live in a broken world (le monde cassé) rings very true in Mary's life. We live in a broken world now as it was back in her own time and if we would like to see the totality of Mary, we must see the brokenness and the shadows being a part of it. We must include the not-so-pleasant ones like the nasty rumors spreading in their neighborhood about Mary's pre-wedlock pregnancy and how unfortunate that no one among her loved ones knew who was responsible. Mary was "betrothed"—something between engaged and married—meaning, Mary belonged to Joseph already even if they were not yet allowed to have a sexual relationship. What is now seen as God's greatest gift to humanity like Mary's pregnancy, arrived with a despicable wrapping. The receiver of the gift was brought to a no-man's-land or a barren place with no exit. Regardless of whether Joseph was the real father or not, in the eyes of their Jewish community, Mary risked exposure to something detestable—debauchery and indiscretion while still in her father's house. The punishment of which is no less than public stoning to death.

Yes, we must accept also the possibility that even her own loved ones did not at first believe her story—the reality of pregnancy outside marriage which was harder to swallow on the part of her saintly parents, let alone, the surreal mix of fact and fantasy about what Mary claims to be the "real" story behind everything.

But God did not make this pure-hearted girl feel abandoned from the first moment of her saying "yes" to a larger-than-life mission. Somebody—in the unlikely person of her cousin Elizabeth who, in her old age, has also unbelievably conceived despite her barren womb—brought the consolation and comfort that she needed the most in the early stages of her journey.

Additional Material:

The Annunciation [1 of 20]

The Birth Of Jesus [3 of 20]

Ladder To Heaven: Three Ladder Rungs Of Mary (August 15, 2020)

Fr JM Manzano SJ