Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

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.”

Today’s Gospel reading from Luke describes the Visitation, Mary’s journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Luke says that on hearing Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice and was filled with the Holy Spirit. “How does this happen to me,” she says, “that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth’s response echoes that of the second reading: “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” The joy of God’s presence is palpable, as Elizabeth feels John leaping in her womb. Where is that right response in me today and as the Nativity approaches?

God, bring to my soul that same Visitation that Elizabeth experienced. I know you are present, and I want to know how to disperse the shadows with your Divine light. In Song of Songs, your presence thaws the wintertime of the heart and brings warmth and ecstatic joy upon your springing steps: “For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land.” Look kindly on me, Lord, and grant me the grace to receive you with joy. What is that stirring that Elizabeth felt, even as she faced the day’s ordinary routines and anxieties. Teach me that love!

Jesus, let me make a place for you today as Mary did, the one who first knew that Emmanuel, the Messiah, had at last come. But, Lord, because I will fall short of that, guide my actions today; show me, through Jesus Christ your Son, the way to go.

From the O Antiphon for today: O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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