Today’s Feast recalls Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth to assist her in her need. Her openness to the Holy Spirit which led her to say ‘yes’ to the message of the angel gave her the strength to travel through the Judean countryside in haste to help her pregnant cousin. We read in Scripture:
During those days Mary set out 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.”
Judean countryside at Ein Karen, town where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived. Imagine Mary on a donkey approaching the town through these hills.
Mosaic on the facade of the Church of the Visitation, Ein Karen
Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karen
Altar at the Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karen, marking the spot where John the Baptist was born.
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