Mary in the Gospel of Luke: Part II: The Visitation

The Visitation:

T he visitation narrative, as we saw in the last issue of The Queen, can be divided into the visitation proper (1:39-45) and the beautiful Magnificat sung by Our Lady (1:46-55). The first section dealing with the visitation itself is in turn divided into three segments; the journey of Mary to the home of Elizabeth; the greeting of Mary to Elizabeth; and the two fold blessing pronounced over Mary by Elizabeth. The previous article focused on the first two sections; our study today concerns the rather mysterious beatitudes (or blessings) that Elizabeth spoke to Mary.

3-The Beatitudes . . .

When any Christian hears the word “beatitude, ” the mind turns to the Sermon on the Mount and hears Jesus proclaim the eight beatitudes beginning with “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God” (Mt 5:1-10). Although the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount hold pride of place, there are many beatitudes in the Scriptures, e.g., the blessing pronounced by the anonymous woman over Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you” (Lk 11:27), with the responding beatitude spoken by Jesus: “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28).

Beatitude means a blessing, or a declaration of happiness. The original Greek has two terms which are often translated by the one English word, blessed: one, used in all the examples above, has the connotation of “fortunate,” or “happy” (Greek: makarios, from which we get the technical word for the beatitudes, “macarisms ”).  This expression implies not the conferring of a blessing, but recognizing a blessing.   Such a beatitude sees in a person a unique joyful grace given by God. The eight beatitudes given in Matthew’s Gospel are in this class and can, therefore, be translated as “Happy the poor in spirit . . . Happy the peace-makers . . ”

The second type of beatitude – “blessed” rather than “happy” – calls down God’s special blessing upon a person; it is generally a petition that the blessing be conferred by God (Greek: eulogemenos ). When it is addressed to God, e.g., “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel“ (Lk1:68), it is equivalent to saying “Let God be praised”! “Let God be adored!”

. . . Pronounced by Elizabeth

The first time that a beatitude is encountered in Luke’s Gospel is in the visitation narrative. And there are two in succession, both pronounced by Elizabeth over Mary bearing within her Jesus the Lord. Twice, Elizabeth bursts out in joyful praise and proclaims Mary blessed. The first is a double blessing: “Blessed are you among women, blessed the fruit of your womb”. The second is the beautiful: “Blessed, indeed is the woman who has believed.”

These blessings are prefaced by Luke with two important remarks. First, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (v.41): her words then are the expression of God. Second, the phrase, “she exclaimed with a loud cry ” uses vocabulary which refers to the liturgical chant of the Old Testament and even at the awesome Ark of the Covenant where God was present in a special way (cf. 1 Chr 15:28; 16:4, 5, 42). Such a majestic introduction to the blessings intoned by Elizabeth over Mary demonstrate not only the value of these two beatitudes but also support the opinion that these two beatitudes constitute a special “chant of Elizabeth.” Her singing is an ecstatic praise of the wonders the Mighty God has worked in Our Lady.

The First Beatitude

a. The first beatitude of Elizabeth. The first set of blessings – “Blessed are you among women” and “Blessed the Fruit of your womb” belong to the second type of beatitude – eulogemenos – which begs God to pour forth his joyful blessing. Elizabeth recognizes that Mary is already “blessed” by God inasmuch as she is the Mother of the Lord. However, her cry is that God continue to bless her, continue to bless her Son, the “fruit of her womb.” Mary is the woman so blessed by God precisely because she is the Mother, she is the Virgin. The Holy Spirit continues, in the Visitation narrative, to pour forth his graces upon Our Lady.  The Holy Spirit does so  through the voice of Elizabeth.

The Second Beatitude

b. The second beatitude of Elizabeth. The second beatitude uses the first formula – a macarism – which says: “How happy, how fortunate the woman who believes”!  It is an exclamation of joyful praise, recognizing in Mary her indescribable faith in God which enabled her to surrender all: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Elizabeth is jubilant. Filled with the light of the Holy Spirit she is able to discern the beauty of this pregnant young girl, so filled with grace, so loved by God.

Elizabeth’s cry of joy tells us the object of Mary’s faith; she believed that everything God spoke to her through the angel Gabriel will be fulfilled, “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Elizabeth joins in with Mary’s trust. Through the Spirit she too knows that everything that Gabriel said will be accomplished.

Saint Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion and Secret of Mary are “beatitudes” spoken over Mary in imitation of Elizabeth. They not only are “macarisms ” joyfully praising the wonderful things that God has done in Mary, they are also “blessings” – eulogemenos – begging God to bless Our Lady by increasing the number of those who love her. His writings are also a blessing for us. They lead us to praise God for His beauty revealed in our sister, Mary. And in particular, the Consecration taught by Saint Louis Marie is the great blessing of Montfort Spirituality, for it brings us into a new depth of union with Jesus the Lord, the fruit of Mary’s faith, the fruit of her womb.