Let us begin with Jesus visitation of the apostles:
“On the evening of that day, the
first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said
this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when
they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father
has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on
them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy
Spirit…’” (Jn 20:19-22)
Note the significant elements: Jesus’ arrival with a
greeting of “Peace” (the standard Jewish greeting “Shalom”) and the imparting of the Spirit.
Don’t we find the same elements in Luke’s account of the
Visitation?
“[Mary] entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary,
the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! …Behold, when the
voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. (Lk
1:40-44)
There is of course a difference between the two events. In
the visitation to Mary and John, Jesus’ bestowal of the Spirit was tied to his
mother’s words. It was Christ acting for only he can impart the Spirit; but he did
so from within Mary. It was as if
Jesus granted a quasi-sacramental character to Mary’s greeting of “peace.” It
points ahead to Jesus visit to the apostles and institution of the sacrament of
reconciliation: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to
them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:22-23). There
is a beautiful symmetry.
But there’s another element we shouldn’t miss – and that is the
reaction of Elizabeth, John, and Mary to being “filled with the Holy Spirit,” as
well as the apostles’ reaction at Pentecost. John, while still in utero,
“leaped for joy” and Elizabeth “exclaimed” God’s work “with a loud cry”; and
the Blessed Mother sang her Magnificat:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,/ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,/ …for he
who is mighty has done great things for me,/ and holy is his name./ And his
mercy is on those who fear him/ from generation to generation./ He has shown
strength with his arm,/…He has helped his servant Israel,/ in remembrance of
his mercy,/ as he spoke to our fathers,/ to Abraham and to his posterity for
ever” (Lk 1:46-51, 54-55).
We see the same reaction when the apostles and Mary were “filled”
with the Spirit at Pentecost. They “began to speak in other tongues,” of “the
mighty works of God…as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4,11). All of
this is the action of the Spirit upon the human heart. As Christ is the source
of the Spirit, so is he the author of the Church’s prayer. He inspired Mary to
cry out in the Magnificat and he
inspires us to cry out in the Our Father,
“God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
(Gal 4:6).
The glory of the Resurrection and its life-changing affect upon the Church - it’s already foreshadowed
Jesus' Marian visitation to Elizabeth and John.
