António dos Santos
May is the month dedicated to Mary Most Holy. It begins and ends by praising the Mother of the Lord. On the 31st of May, the “cycle” of Mary closes, celebrating the visit of Our Lady to her cousin St Elizabeth.
After the announcement of Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would be the Mother of the Savior, Our Lady hurried – as described in the Gospel According to Luke – to visit her cousin, already elderly, to help her in the last days of her pregnancy. The Mother of the Lord, already with her Son in her womb, made a long journey until she reached the house of Elizabeth in the Judean mountains where the priest Zacharias lived. Having arrived at her cousin’s home, when Our Lady greets her, the infant St John the Baptist shudders in the bosom of Elizabeth, and her cousin, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims: “‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!’” (Luke 1:40-45).
Mary, home of the Most Holy Trinity in the Person of the Son, was also filled with the Holy Spirit: “‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation…’” (Luke 1:46-55) –
We recall the words of the prophet Zephaniah: “‘Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing’” (Zephaniah, 3:16-17).
If Mary, source of purity and humility, had not been under the fullness of the Holy Spirit, she would never have accepted being called “blessed among all women” and would not have proclaimed “all generations will call me blessed.”
Our Lady stayed with Elizabeth until the birth of the infant John, humbly serving her. After eight days for John the Baptist’s circumcision rite and name imposition, Mary returns to Nazareth.
The Feast of the Visitation finds its origin in the medieval Church. The Order of Friars Minor already celebrated it in 1263; it was celebrated on the 2nd of July, that is, at the end of the Visitation. The celebration was then extended to the entire Latin Church by Pope Urban VI (1378-1389) to invoke Mary’s intercession for the peace and unity of Christians divided by the great schism of the West in the 14th century.
The current liturgical calendar has abandoned the traditional date of 2nd July and set the memorial on the last day of May, to crown the month particularly dedicated to Mary.
Happy the idea of dedicating one month, May, to Mary Most Holy. May the fifth month, reminds us of the five wounds of Jesus on the cross where Our Lady was standing beside the Son with the beloved apostle – every Christian – and continues to be with Him and each follower of her Son; on each altar where the Sacrifice of Holy Mass is celebrated; in every Eucharistic Adoration and close to the hearts where the Lord dwells.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us!
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