Blessed in humility

Gospel Reflection
 

Mary set out in those days

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.”

Luke 1:39-45

Rejoice because you are blessed by God, our Lord. 

We heard in our Gospel reading today the story of the Visitation, when Mary visited her relative Elizabeth in order to serve her at a time when she was most in need.

But this was not just an ordinary visit, this was also the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ to Elizabeth and to the baby that she was carrying, the precursor of our Lord Jesus Christ, John.

This visit of our dear mother highlights two important traits of Mary, which, hopefully, we too would be able to imbibe in this season of advent.

First, Mary's concern for those who are most in need. Pagmamalasakit. Mary knew that Elizabeth, dangerously pregnant at a very late age, would really need some help, someone to take care of her. That is why she did not have second thoughts in deciding to go to Elizabeth to take care of her. She went in haste, according to our reading, after the angel Gabriel's visit to her.

Scholars say that Elizabeth lived in a place called Ein Karem, a mountain village in the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is around 2,474 feet above sea level, not so level, so to speak, and is around 161 kilometers away from where Mary was, in Nazareth. So just imagine the very loooong journey of Mary, uphill. And it is actually a perilous one as there were bandits hiding everywhere along the way. And to think that she too was pregnant at that time. She was carrying our Lord. But she knew that Elizabeth needed her and she wanted to serve a relative who was most in need. 

How are we bringing the Good News to those in need? 

Second, is her humility in serving those most in need. The news that she will be carrying the Son of God in her womb did not get into her head. 

The angel Gabriel revealed this to her saying, "(Your Son) will be great and will be called Son of the Most High..." And as if that was not obvious enough, Gabriel emphasized, "The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." But this fact did not in any way make her think that she was better than any other woman in the world, but what this made her was to become even more humble, allowing her to give herself to others. 

Her baby is the Son of God, but what she showed us is that to be the mother of God is to serve others, to serve those who are most in need with utmost humility. 

That is why she is blessed.

Her faith in the goodness of God, her trust in the kagandahang loob of God, of the Word of God, has blessed her even more. 

Blessed are you among women. 

In this season of advent, let us be a blessing to others, most especially to those who are most in need. May the blessings that we receive from God allow us to be a blessing to others, that we become channels of God's blessing, of the joy that could only come from God for our brothers and sisters who are most in need.

Photo: Giulia May | Unsplash