Luke 1:39-49
The Feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth is celebrated on May 31. Since the 31st fell on a Sunday this year, that feast has been transferred to today.
Elizabeth’s cry of joy, “that the mother of my Lord should come to me,” forms the basis of the doctrine of Mary as Theotokos (Greek for “God-bearer). For awhile, it was fiercely debated in the Church whether Mary should be referred to in this way. Yes, Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, but was he also the Word of God, who is completely identical with God? How could human flesh contain God?
But St. Gregory of Nazianzus argued that what God did not assume, God could not redeem. To redeem human flesh, so that we could share in Christ’s Resurrection, it was necessary for God to fully share our human nature. Since Jesus has shared our human experience – even death – we can share in his everlasting life, body and soul.
When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, he was fully human and fully God, so that Mary was, in truth, Theotokos – the Mother of God. It was Elizabeth who first understood, and proclaimed, the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. And so we give thanks for the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.
Father in heaven, by whose grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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2 comments:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
I think this is a lovely prayer even if it is from the Roman church.
It is a beautiful prayer, and perfectly scriptural. And we're not praying to Mary the same way we pray to God the father, Son or Holy Spirit. We are part of the Communion of Saints, here on earth, and in the next world. Asking those saints who have gone before us to pray with us is no different from asking the saints who are with us now to prat with us.
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