Mi 5, 1-4 / Ps 79 / Heb 10, 5-10 / Lk 1, 39-48

Wait… in peace

Elizabeth’s words are the most beautiful and the most appropriate to hasten the step towards Bethlehem, so little, and to greet the shepherd of Israel. As the prophet Jeremiah had announced, on the first Sunday of this time, the sprout of righteousness promised to the house of David is now visiting his people. The promised and attested Messiah visits every man and woman on this earth in the splendid reliquary that is the Mother of the Lord who guards the first fruits of that body claimed by the Word to reveal herself to the salvation of all humanity. Elizabeth’s admiration and amazement call blessed she who she believed in the fulfillment of what the Lord said because this woman allowed him to make her whole life the living temple of her incardination in the history of humanity. . We already hear the powerful voice of the Word who makes the friend of the bridegroom rejoice and, turning to us who await him, he already wants to recognize us as his: Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:28). of the first reading opens the heart no longer only to the fervent expectation to which the whole Advent has initiated us and in which it has accompanied us, but it already opens to the joy of fulfillment: (Mi 5, 4) . The joy that seems to explode like a flower that opens to the kiss of the morning sun, the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, is the first fruits of revelation of this peace. These two women visited by God’s grace visit each other not only in welcoming each other, but in recognizing a principle that surpasses them and at the same time makes them even more sisters, more friends, more relatives: a sign of hope!

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey