What do we read in the Gospel today? On this day, we see Mary who goes on the journey into the hill country into a village in Judea. She arrives and greets Elisabeth. When Elisabeth hears the greeting, because she also is with child, the child leaps within her. She is filled with the Holy Spirit and cries out with a loud voice: Blessed are you, Mary, among all women. And Mary responds: My soul exalts in the Lord… because he has bent down to his lowly servant. Mary remains about three months and then returns to her own home.
Mary was given a special gift by God, since God knew from eternity that she would accept His calling to be the Mother of Christ. This gift was the privilege given at the first moment of Mary’s existence, the privilege of her Immaculate Conception. That she was conceived by her mother, St. Anne, without Original Sin, meant that her whole life was a special grace from God. It was still filled with struggles and pain, but at the end of her life on this earth, Mary became a sign of hope for us.