the mystery of the visitation, the mystery of mercy december 21

We have just read in our gospel what the Rosary calls the Visitation.

Why did Mary visit Elizabeth?  What was the motive of her visit?  Why did she feel the need to go to her cousin Elizabeth?

Let it be clear that the journey from the home of Mary in Nazareth to the house of Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea is not an ordinary journey.  At present we could not even compare it to the journey from Iloilo to Carles and with our relatively good and safe roads it would even be incomparable to a roro to Manila.  The journey of Mary would take her 4 to 5 days.  It was a difficult journey and it was not safe.  And yet why the urgency, why the hurry, why even the need?

Why?  Because it is said that the mystery of the Visitation of Mary is a mystery of Mercy.  If there was an urgency, if there was persistence despite the difficulty, if there was some stubbornness to go on the part of Mary, it was because of the attraction of Mercy.

What is mercy?  We often hear this word nowadays as we have just launched the Year of Mercy.  But what is mercy? 

I have come upon what I think is a beautiful definition of mercy.  It says, when love meets suffering, it becomes mercy.  When love meets suffering, that love becomes mercy.

In the visitation when love meets suffering it becomes mercy.  There are three attractions of mercy.

First, Mary was confused.  She said her yes to the angel.  But don’t tell me pagkatapos sadto nagtumbo-tumbo si Maria kag nagsinggit yes, I’m pregnant!  I don’t think so.  Probably her head was spinning.  A young woman?  A virgin?  An engaged young woman?  Pregnant?  How would she explain that to her mother, to her father, to Joseph, to her neighbors, to the rabbi in the village?  NO she’s not going to jump around and tell everyone excitedly that she was pregnant.  She can’t do that.  And so she went in a hurry to Elizabeth whom she believed would understand.

You don’t expect a young woman to get pregnant do you?  But you don’t also expect an old woman to get pregnant.  So who could better understand Mary but her cousin Elizabeth.  And that was the hurry.  The attraction of mercy.  She knew she would be better understood.  She knew she can find refuge.  She knew she will be embraced.  The attraction of mercy.

When we become judgmental as a church we lose that attraction of mercy.  We hear this most often.  Indi ako magsimba, wala na ako nagapalapit sa simbahan kay makasasala ako.  We have already lost the attraction of mercy. No more.  We have to recover that. When love meets suffering it becomes understanding, it becomes empathy, it become sympathetic, it becomes mercy.

Second, there is a belief among the fathers of the church, that John the Baptist was born without original sin.  Don’t get me wrong, John the Baptist was conceived with original sin, like us, just like us.  But he was born without original sin.  Why?  Because of the Visitation.  Origen said: “Jesus who was in the womb of Mary hastened to sanctify John, still in the womb of his mother Elizabeth. Whence it follows, with haste.” 

Christ in the womb of the Virgin was hastening, Jesus was pulling Mary, hurry, dasiga, so as to cleanse John from original sin, and thus sanctify him.  That is also another quality of Mercy.  Mercy is attracted to sinners.  It is not just sinners attracted to mercy.  Mercy is attracted to sinners.  It will look for sinners, it will look for somebody to forgive, it will search those who are suffering, it will go after people in distress and in pain.

Is our community here in Jaro a merciful community.  Do we attract sinners?  Are we attracted to sinners, searching, looking, enticing, inviting?  Do we as a community search for those who are suffering? When love meets suffering it searches the lost, it seeks those who have gone astray, when love meets suffering it becomes welcoming, it becomes mercy.

Third, Mary having learned of her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy rushed immediately to her side to help her in her hour of need.  Theophilact points out that Mary is a cause of piety because of this – she was higher in status and yet she went to the lower so that the lower in status might be assisted, Mary came to Elisabeth, Christ came to John.  Here we already see the pattern of mercy, Jesus did not come to be served but to serve.

As I have said in the beginning, this event is called the Visitation.  The word visit comes from the Latin word video which means to see.  To visit thus means to turn one’s attention to the person, to see how he is, to look upon in order to help, to look after, have care for, provide for.  There is a paying careful attention to the other, to his needs, and to care by providing for his needs. These too are the characteristics of Mercy.

Indi ka kasiling, ti kay wala ka man nagpalapit. Ukon masiling kita, Ti kay wala ka man nangayo.  No, it is the higher that goes to the lower.  It is the higher that notices need, it is he who should look careful and pay attention to the needs of the other.  These are characteristics of mercy.  Mercy always takes the initiative. When love meets suffering it becomes feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and burying the dead. When love meets suffering it becomes the corporal works of mercy, it becomes mercy.    One does not wait to be told, mercy does not wait to asked.   Mercy means I am taking notice.  In an African Tribe they greet each other by saying sawubono.  It is not just a hi, it is not just a good morning.  It means “I see you.”  In mercy I cannot remain unaware, I cannot remain unmindful.  Because when love sees suffering, it becomes mercy.