4th Sunday of Advent (December 22). BLESSED AMONG WOMEN

Prepare to Listen.  Light the four colored candles on the Advent wreath.  Blessed is she who believed.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 1:39-45
39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?  44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy.  45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
Elizabeth is the first to describe Mary as blessed among women.  Tomorrow, we’ll read Mary’s own claim that all generations will call her blessed.  Why do you think Elizabeth called her blessed?

Elizabeth was the first person Mary told about her pregnancy.  She travelled from Nazareth in the north to an unknown town in the hill country of Judea in the south.  Since women, especially single teenage girls like Mary, rarely if ever travelled and never alone, it’s surprising that she risked the danger to visit her older cousin.  The pregnant teenager met with the pregnant older woman, both miraculous pregnancies.  What drove Mary to make the trip?  Had Mary heard about Elizabeth’s miracle?  Did she know Elizabeth would believe and support her?  Remarkably, Mary didn’t need to tell Elizabeth her story.  Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, knew, and was delighted, even calling Mary, her teenage cousin, “the mother of my Lord.”  Is that why she called her blessed?

I suspect Mary didn’t feel, at first, blessed.  She was a pregnant, unmarried teenager in a culture that condemned and shunned girls like her.  Elizabeth welcomed and enthusiastically affirmed her.  She knew Mary believed and trusted the word the angel had spoken to her.  Was it Elizabeth’s belief in Mary that gave her the courage to accept her role and declare that all generations will call her blessed?  I wonder.
 
What about this story makes you wonder?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, thank you for Elizabeth and all older women like her who encourage and affirm younger women today.  May I be like her.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Believe the fulfillment of God’s Word.