When Mary heard from the angel that her cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant, she “traveled to the hill country, hurriedly” We see there Maria’s ascending the mountain where her cousin Elizabeth’s city was. For the Jew, the mountain is always a place of prayer.
In the Old Testament, we encounter two beautiful examples of prayer on the mountain: Moses and Elijah. Still the principle objective of Mary was not to pray. We cannot imagine that she did not reserve large moments for prayer, for her personal encounter alone with the Boy God, while she helped her cousin. Also in the passage of the Transfiguration, it is not explicit in the text that Jesus went up the mountain to pray, but it is clear that He brought his disciples to a place apart for this. o maybe to pray! This is implicit! And you? Also have you reserved your moments to “Go up the mountain” and pray?
“Mary entered the house os Zeccharia and greeted Elizabeth” and is “filled with the Holy Spirit, yelled: “Blessed are you among women and blessed in the fruit of your womb. When comes to me that the mother of my Lord visits me?” In that moment, Elizabeth had the same sentiment of the Apostles: “It is good that we are here!” She and John, well with her husband Zechariah, are beneficiaries of Mary who bring Jesus.
The other interesting point is we can associate the figures of Moses and Elijah who converse with Jesus, in the Transfiguration, with Zechariah and John the Baptist. He was the last of the prophets, appointed by Christ himself as the figure of Elijah. The priest Zechariah, exercised his function in the Temple offering sacrifices and interceing for the people as Moses had done. although the Temple did not exist. In the Transfiguration, Peter proposes: “Let us make three tents, one for you, another for Moses and other for Elijah.” In the Visitation, God had provided three tents, first is was the house of Zecharia, second was the womb of Elizabeth in which John the Baptist jumped and third was the womb of Mary that received Jesus.
We see in the three tents, a certain growth in the order of construction: The first, the house, made with human hands; the second the womb of Elizabeth, the first pregnant woman who received the Holy Spirit through the Visit of Jesus in the bosom of Mary; and finally, Mary, herself, the Imaculate, conceived without sin, she was the perfect tent for Jesus. Mary in effect, is venerated in the Litany with the title of “House of Gold”. Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus also can, each in his own way, say: “It is good for us to be here.” This is the secure place for here lives God!” and for you? Will your house be a secure place, where God makes his dwelling?
From the Lumious clouds there comes a voice that says “This is my beloved son, in whom I put my affection, listen to Him.” or “This is my beloved Son, whom it pleases me to choose, listen to Him.” There is a difference, although subtle, between the two translations, but only on the lips of Mary can we put the same words coming from the Father directed to the Son, inspired by the Holy Spirit: “This is my beloved son, in whom I put all my affection and to whom I say “yes” in order the he may be raised. “I chose Him, Listen to Him. Do all that He tells you. ” (cf. John 2:5) which she said in Cana of Galilee.
After these readings and meditations, do we not have many reasons to pray and to contemplate. Make then, this prayer yourself. you that are the temple of the Holy Spirit (cf 1Cor 6:19) Glorify the Lord through the marvels that He does in your life. If you want begin with the Cantle of Mary, the “Magnificat” in Luke 1:46-55, but allow yourself to be driven by the Holy Spirit.
In your contemplation on this [Monday of the] 4th week of Advent, I suggest that mental “painting” of an icon with the following persons: Mary, pregnant with Jesus at the center. Elizabeth, exulting in the Spirit with the visit, have the small John the Baptist “jumping” for joy in her womb. On the other side, the mute priest, Zechariah in attitude of respect and adoration, that divine presence in his house, a luminous cloud of the Holy Spirit enveloping the whole environment in which they find themselves and above all a triangle representing the voice of the Father, Remain in silence for a some time, contemplating this beautiful mystery of the transfigured visit of the Lord.
Padre Bantu Mendonça
Fr. Bantu is a priest in Angola, Africa