Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. (Luke 1:42)
I find it striking that the words of the Hail Mary found in the first chapter of Luke come from her cousin Elizabeth, a woman who had also been blessed by God with a miraculous conception. The Holy Spirit works through Mary’s relative to offer us words with which we can pray. Mary, herself pregnant with the Son of God, had hastened to Elizabeth and stayed with her for three months. Each woman delighted and witnessed to the glory of God being carried–literally and figuratively–in the other.
Our broken earthly relationships–when they are devoid of God’s presence–can be rife with jealousy and self-centeredness. Elizabeth was not threatened by Mary’s blessedness; Elizabeth found hope and blessing in the grace God gave to her cousin. Mary, in turn, does not revel in her own goodness, but rather glorifies God as the source of her blessedness in her Magnificat:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever."
God made a relational promise of mercy to his people, a promise that he re-establishes, fulfills, and renews through his Son. Hope comes only through God, and everywhere on earth where God’s works are present and unfolding, there is hope. Mary and Elizabeth’s pregnancies are helpful in elucidating the spiritual dimensions of hope: the gift is present and yet also developing and unfolding with our joyful expectation.
Mary accompanies us in our hour of need, where God draws near to fulfill his promise of mercy. She herself is a sign and also a witness of God’s work, at once complete and unfolding in her womb as in our lives. Even at the foot of the Cross, moments away from death, Mary is present to receive a miraculous motherhood once more: Jesus entrusts her to the beloved disciple and entrusts the beloved disciple to her.
Hope is fortified and revealed in the relationships God establishes and renews: relative to relative, neighbor to neighbor, mother to child, child to mother. Mary hastens to us, her spiritual children, as she hastened to Elizabeth and, like the beloved disciple, comes to dwell in our home.
Coralys Quintero Muñoz is a happy wife living a happy life. She attends Mary, Mother of the Church Parish where she teaches Confirmation with her husband Daniel. She works as a Mental Health Clinician.
Answering Christ’s call, Pilgrim Center of Hope guides people to encounter Him so as to live in hope, as pilgrims in daily life. See what’s happening & let us journey with you! Visit PilgrimCenterOfHope.org.
