Encountering Jesus through Mary’s Visitation (HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (MAY 31 2024)

HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (MAY 31 2024)

Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Isa.12; Luke 1:39-56

Before His Ascension, when Jesus spoke to His disciples about his impending departure, He assured them that His departure does not mean His absence because the Holy Spirit will come to guide them to the truth. Since Jesus is the truth, the Holy Spirit guides us to discover Jesus. It is this guidance of the Holy Spirit to discover Jesus that we celebrate in the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This feast does not just mean to say that Mary visited Elizabeth; they were cousins and so, she would have done that a number of times. This feast rather outlines the first visit of the Mother of God. Mary had just been told by the Angel Gabriel that she will be the Mother of God. Immediately she goes to visit Elizabeth. Through her greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit who also guided her to discover/notice the Jesus in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth exclaimed: “and why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” By this, she not only bore witness to Mary’s pregnancy but also to the divinity of the unborn child.

When Jesus explained the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, they were no longer sorrowful but joyful as He ascended into heaven. This same Holy Spirit caused John the Baptist to leap for joy in the Mother’s womb. John leaped, not because Jesus is his cousin but because Jesus is his Lord. Thus the Holy Spirit also guided John to discover his Lord.

One fact stands out here: the first time the Holy Spirit led people to discover Jesus, it was through the instrumentality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The end of May devotion is not the end of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. If we must authentically receive the Holy Spirit, we need the “greeting” of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It becomes a total misplacement of priority when some Christians despise the Mother of God on account of their Charismatic alliance. Since the Holy Spirit is God, and Mary is the mother of God, the Holy Spirit can never inspire us to neglect the Mother of God.

Mary sang the magnificant in praise of God who acknowledges the poor and the lowly. God has special interest in the poor and sometimes chooses to reveal Himself through them. If Elizabeth had preoccupied herself with the age of her little cousin Mary, she would not have been so inspired. Therefore, the feast of the Visitation calls to attend to the poor and the lowly.

This feast also calls us to increase our devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The womb of Mary was the first tabernacle. At the presence of this tabernacle, Elizabeth and John the Baptist were filled with joy. In the tabernacle, Jesus is really, truly and substantially present. You cannot visit a king and go empty-handed. The quality of what you get is based on the level of wealth of the king. Since Jesus is the King of kings, you can be sure of nothing but the best when you make it a habit to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament.