A Humble Visitation!

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Zeph 3:14-18a or Rom 12:9-16; Lk 1:39-56

The feast of the Visitation invites us to practice humility as the overarching Christian virtue.

All the principal characters in today’s Gospel, namely God, Mary, Elizabeth, and John, live out the virtue of humility in what they do. 

God: The example of humility starts with the Lord made known through His initiative of incarnation. The first reading, which calls for Israel’s joy with the words ‘Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!’ exemplifies God reaching out to His people with the promise of His blessed presence. We must remember that God’s presence in the midst of His people is not metaphorical. Instead, God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ is about God’s fidelity to the covenantal love that will reveal itself through His nearness and closeness to His people. God coming down to dwell with His people is the humblest gesture from the Divine Person. 

Mary: Mary has just been announced as the Mother of God by the Angel of the Lord. However, such privilege has not made her proud. Instead, we are astonished to find Mary not dwelling in her moment of privilege but thinking of her elderly cousin in need, without her requesting Mary’s help in any manner. The phrase ‘in haste’ highlights Mary’s internal urge to help out her needy cousin, who is advanced in years. Mary’s humility, which is seen in her excessively generous gesture to attend to her cousin unasked, is a testament to the virtue of humility that she was one with. However, what we should have in mind is that Mary’s visitation is very ‘social’ in nature and content, meaning that it is not that she hastened to assist Elizabeth because she was her cousin but would have done the same to anyone, regardless of who the one in need was. This is where Mary manifests humility as a constituent part of her moral nature. 

Elizabeth: We find Elizabeth truly humble when she acknowledges the greatness of Mary with no jealousy or hesitation. Elizabeth’s sincerity to compliment her younger cousin as ‘Most blessed are you among women!’ – the very words employed by the Angel of the Lord to greet her – calls for imitation and response. With her affirmation, Elizabeth also recognizes Mary’s unique role in the salvation that God had intended for humanity. By her words of praise for the Divine Mother, we understand that Elizabeth’s greatness lies in a true awareness of her own self and the person of Mother Mary. The egoless compliments that Elizabeth showers upon her younger cousin show what it means to practice humility in a real-life setting. Elizabeth’s attitude shows that humility is not to be confused or conflated with inferiority or insecurity, but being happy with who one really is, especially in the face of someone greater than ourselves. Through her reverential attitude toward the Divine Mother, the humble Elizabeth teaches us to feel at home with ourselves. 

John: The passage describes John as ‘leaping for joy’ in the womb of Elizabeth at the meeting of his Lord and his Divine Mother. Was John’s ‘leaping for joy’ just momentary? Not at all! John was leaping for joy whenever he encountered the Lord, testified to him, and indicated him as the true Messiah to his disciples. John’s humility is truly appreciable because it comes from a man who others (the Jewish religious leaders, his disciples, and ordinary people) would have readily believed and accepted as the true Messiah if he ever claimed so. But John did not exploit the privilege of being Jesus’ forerunner, and he never pretended to be who he was not. This is why he could acknowledge his lowliness by saying, ‘I am unworthy to untie his sandal strap’ (Jn 1:27). We understand that in his humility, John leaped for joy all his life. 

Let us pray that we may be inspired by the Divine Persons and their example of humility to live out the same in our lives. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar