Mary's Visitation on Two HillsThe Gospel that we have today sounds familiar. We have heard this many times over in the liturgical celebration of feasts associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nonetheless, it always comes to us fresh and new, amazing and compelling for the Gospel reveals inexhaustible and transforming truth.
Last December 09, 2013, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with the gospel passage taken from the second part of chapter one of Luke, where the angel Gabriel announced the Good News to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son who would be called Jesus. Today, as we celebrate the memorial of the Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our gospel comes from the succeeding verses of the annunciation depicting Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth.
What motivated Mary to visit Elizabeth in haste? Perhaps, she wanted to share the joy that she felt being the chosen mother of the Son of God. Perhaps, she wanted to see with her own eyes the truth of what the Angel told her about Elizabeth. If it were true, then what the angel revealed about her would also be true! In any case, it indicates how Mary is like the rest of us: driven to share genuine joy with others; and in need to find confirmation and affirmation from others as well – a key to understanding the communal dimension of the Good News.
For Elizabeth, it was an honor having Mary in her house. Moved by the Spirit, she praised her, “you are the most blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth saw this as another grace from God after conceiving John in her old age and barrenness. It was also an affirmation that the baby in her womb would have a great role in the salvific plan of God.
From the hills of Judah Mary went to another hill, in yet another time period. Almost five centuries ago (1531), our Blessed Mother visited the New Word through her apparition to Juan Diego, a poor peasant and an Indian converted at the age of 57 in Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City. She asked Juan Diego to tell the local Bishop Juan de Zumarraga to build a church because of her love for the people of Mexico. So, Juan Diego went to tell the bishop, but unfortunately the bishop did not believe him. The bishop asked for a sign so that he might believe. On the second meeting of Juan Diego with the Lady, he was asked to gather some miraculous, out-of-season flowers, which he found on top of the hill, to bring to the Bishop. He carried them in his rough cactus fiber outer garment, his tilma. She strictly ordered him not to show the contents of the tilma to anyone on the way. Once there, he began to tell his story while unfolding the tilma, as the Bishop, and some important guests who happened to be present, saw the wonderful Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on it. This, rather than the flowers, was the real sign for Bishop Zumárraga. Because of this many Aztecs got converted to Christianity. Today, many pilgrims visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico every year. The devotion spread not only in Mexico but also in the rest of the Americas as well as the Philippines in Asia.
These two stories of Mary’s visitation tell us that salvation through Jesus Christ is for all. Mary, the Mother of God, is willing to go as far as America to share the joy of Christ and His salvation to each one of us. The question is: Are we willing to be like Elizabeth and Juan Diego accepting Mary bearing her Son to us? Or do we like Bishop Zumarraga prefer to ask for a sign before we can open our hearts?
Faith is God’s gratuitous gift to us. Just as it is freely given, we are also free to accept it or not. True freedom, however, comes only when we give our own fiat to God. Like Mary, may we be suffused with joy in Christ to share with one another not only that same joy but also Christ himself.
- Sem. Mike Dupo
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