| Blessed are you... | | | | - the blessedness of Mary and the child to be born to |
| Blessed is the fruit of your womb... | | | | her (1:42) |
| Blessed is she who believed... | | | | - the identity of the child in Mary's womb (1:43) |
| A declaration in which God's favor or blessing is | | | | - the reason for the movement Elizabeth felt in her |
| experienced is known as a beatitude. When we hear | | | | womb (1:44) |
| that word, we may think of those nine beatitudes | | | | - the affirmation of Mary's faith and the fulfillment of |
| recorded in Matthew's Gospel from Jesus' Sermon on | | | | the Lord's promise (1:45) |
| the Mount (5:3-11). But here, in Luke 1:39-45 [46-55], | | | | The oracles of Elizabeth are followed by Mary's song |
| three beatitudes are voiced by Elizabeth, the mother | | | | of praise (Magnificat) which parallels closely Hannah's |
| of Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist. The account of | | | | prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the opening verses of |
| Mary's visit to Elizabeth brings together the two | | | | Psalm 34. In calling God her "Savior" (1:47), Mary |
| preceding stories in Luke's Gospel - the | | | | expresses confidence and faith that God's promise of |
| announcements of the births of John the Baptist | | | | redemption will surely be fulfilled. God is our Savior who |
| (1:5-25) and Jesus (1:26-38). | | | | will come to us as a vulnerable baby, yet who will |
| "With a loud cry" Elizabeth greets Mary with a | | | | reverse the worldly standards and the status quo. The |
| beatitude as her own "child leaps in her womb" (1:41). | | | | powerful will be brought down and the lowly will be |
| There is no indication that Elizabeth had any prior | | | | lifted up; the rich will be sent away empty and the |
| knowledge of the angel's announcement to Mary. Luke | | | | hungry will be filled with good things (1:52, 53). |
| is thus telling us that the Holy Spirit is the source of | | | | Mary's song is a message to us today that we are to |
| Elizabeth's knowledge of Mary's pregnancy. While her | | | | look to no other power, and she echoes the words of |
| husband Zechariah has been rendered speechless | | | | the psalmist: "Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, |
| (1:20), Elizabeth, "filled with the Holy Spirit" (1:41), is given | | | | in whom there is no help" (146:3, NRSV). |
| voice, and her declaration fulfills the angel's | | | | In the days of the Advent season, we, like Mary, now |
| announcement to Zechariah that their child "will be filled | | | | wait. We wait in faith and with hope for the birth of the |
| with the Holy Spirit" even before his birth (1:15). | | | | Holy One, the Savior of the world. The Mighty One |
| Elizabeth's greeting to Mary is in the form of a | | | | has indeed done great things for us! |
| four-part prophetic utterance about: | | | | Blessed are we! |