On the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, the virtue of purity in words and deeds
By Nirina Mignon
Amidst the sixth month of her pregnancy, Elizabeth, wife to Zechariah, was visited by Our Lady in an admirable moment. Within the matrix of his mother’s womb, John (who was to baptise Christ) lept with joy at the presence of God (Luke 1:39-49). By the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit, the two mothers and their two respective sons in their assembly were found spotless; as light which passes through the glass pane of a cathedral, this exemplary event shone entirely consecrated to God. This which I describe is the second Joyful Mystery which is meditated upon in the Rosary, and I believe we ought to emulate its virtues daily in the manner which we which we affront conversations.
To properly acquire the principal virtue which shines in this event, it is quite necessary to understand it soberly. We must not imagine this visitation through the lens of our foolish revelry which is so common amongst the carelessness of our daily business, God forbid. Though Elizabeth with great enthusiasm declared her joy onto Mary, it was not in the spontaneity of vain talk, neither was the happiness which was found in this time the sort poured by the drunkenness of wine and an incontinent humor. In the instant which Elizabeth praises Our Lady, she does not do so in a manner of gain or a duplicitous heart, instead doing so regally as a subject in presence of her queen. It is true that by the illumination of grace Elizabeth knew exactly who Mary was, the bearer of the living God who herself had been kept in all her ways from sin, but had this truth been unknown to her, her praise would be done so with the same total devotion. We must remember that the two women had not been strangers to one another, and that by their familiarity it would be well evident to Elizabeth that her cousin Mary had not been any common sort of woman but rather a woman consecrated to the temple since her youth. It thus follows that had Elizabeth been unaware of her cousin’s importance in the order which God set forth for the Earth, she would resolutely have intention to call Our Lady “blessed amongst women.” But just as it was attested in the Book of Genesis that He had ordered the firmament and the sea to be separate and the lesser light of the Moon to divide the latter part of the day (Genesis 1:5-7), it was confessed into the inner heart of Elizabeth that Mary was to be the heavenly tabernacle, even the Ark of the new covenant. It is from this revelation to the heart that Elizabeth humbled protested that she was unworthy to see the mother of her Lord (Luke 1:43), the very same which she was brought up to sing songs of praise to and call to in the time of infirmity. Though in the days of Moses only Aaron had the liberty of seeing whenever he wished the old Ark which bound the tribes of Israel to the old covenant of Our Lord, which Bezalel had built according to instruction; any man or woman who was not blind could with their eyes espy Mary, the Ark built in the passionless and Immaculate Conception of her mother Anne. After taking the perspective of Elizabeth, who had known Mary and Our Lord all her life respectively through the ties of kinsmanship and Scripture, it is quite evident what solemn joy Elizabeth must have felt during the visitation of her cousin Mary. Now it would be well to explicate unto you what virtue of worth is in this Mystery, which can be emulated in our seemingly mundane life bereft of divine presence (at least outwardly).
I have said unto you that the praise of Our Lady by Elizabeth was not duplicitous and would have remained pure regardless of whether she was illumined by the grace of revelation, by this I mean that praise can be given with ordinate love in all instances of speech. It has been the manner of the troubadours of this age to give rehearsed praise unto women with an impure heart, not necessarily out of lust in the common sense, but with the mercenary attitude of gainfulness. It can be said that when the final cause of a deed does not resemble its efficient cause, there is an impurity in the deed; for example, it is evident that a man who does good to be seen is not virtuous, just as the rabbis who took advantage of their designated positions to be loved by the world as kings were cheats (Matthew 23:6), and the men who prayed in public to be seen as pious were sycophants and hypocrites (Matthew 6:5). Tacitly this truth is shown in the parable of the gift (Matthew 7:9-11), wherein it is plainly called evil to give anything else than what gift is asked of, a tragedy when a rock is given to the son pleading for bread. It is the duplicity of heart that poisons the otherwise kind words, since the lady open with the approach of edifying words is given instead a tainted praise which seeks only to please the speaker, the proceeding warm joy of the recipient being incidental and not the true end. The courtier here is joyed at the smile of his accostee, but it is an unequal transaction; for contrary to the pure edification of kindness, he receives the mark of the deadly sin pride and its carnal rousing of irregular spirit, effaceable only by grace.
Now, it would seem if anything that the recipient of the kind words would slowly be puffed with pride, being told that her brow is as marble and her countenance to be lovely, but this is not the case since praise contrarily humbles. If it has been said that the meek, who humble themselves as children blameless, will be the ones exalted (Matthew 23:12), then surely the woman hearing the dramatic lauds will reprove her courtier with humility; since it would be unseemly for God to lay the foundation of the office of virtuous praise and humility, only for the two to bruise each other in contradicting enmity. If imparting words of lovingkindness is virtuous and so is being humble, then a sort of intermediary would be needed that not one good deed ruin the other, this mediating value is that of vigilance which ensures the discernment of truth and lie or exaggeration. Surely the woman knowing herself to be nothing like the muse sprung from Arcadia, knowing herself to be unremarkable and ordinary, will quickly crush the head of the serpent pride with the knowledge of truth, “I am but a common lady, nothing alike to your vanities.”
Similarly, Mary, cousin of Elizabeth, Mother of Our Lord chosen from the eternity of God (who while creating every visible and invisible thing knew every instant of His creation, present like future), exemplifies humility in the declaration of her sanctity she receives. As it has been said by St. Thérèse of Lisieux that for a beautiful flower to deny its gifts would be false humility, and for it to be only truly humble when in declaring its gifts and graces, it attributes them to God (Story of a Soul, p.15); similarly, the discernment of Mary knowing herself to be the Mother of God is necessary for the admission of truth and love of God. Thus, in her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), she rightfully calls herself esteemed from her state of servitude as handmaid to God, the crowning of her soul by the magnification of humility. With the pure love of her neighbors and cousin residing in her Immaculate Heart, she brings God to them with no other expectation than igniting in them the edifying grace of the Lord. It can be said that the final cause of the deed is identical to the efficient cause; her love of God like the flame of the burning bush can not be extinguished, stoked by its own flames it burns in zeal and spreads. Mary in her humility spread devotion to the Sacred Heart much like the vassal, who both loves his lord and has been given the duty of arms, conquers fiefs in the goal of expanding the kingdom. Similarly, if it has been said by Our Lord that He is present whenever two or more are convoked in His name (Matthew 18:20), then surely it is the duty of the Catholic to consecrate every mode of conversation to God as to stoke and spread the burning fire of His love, since the faithful believing himself better with it than without, in charity seeks to share this gift. By the charity of pure words, the once putrefact and hardened shade is converted to the heart which makes ceaseless intercession to the saints, the glory of Heaven seeping in by little diffraction; knowing this, the Catholic must not be avaricious to his neighbors, preferring edification to the gallantry of flirtation. Now, if it be sacrilege to desecrate the holy with the profane, then surely every word and deed should be purity and holiness whenever convoked for the glory of God (which we have established to be a constant duty for the Catholic, even in the least of conversations).
Sacrilege is a sin which many believe themselves to be above, yet it perniciously is done in common life. Knowing ourselves to be in the presence of God and all His angels, His court of saints and martyrs, with what presumption do we speak idle dalliance and gossip? Surely, Elizabeth knowing herself to be in the presence of God and His Mother would not dare utter any vain thing, and in the same manner should one keep his speech and intentions upright. I have said that the common life, at least outwardly, has scarce semblance of divine presence, but this would not be the case if every conversation and intent of ours was pure. Only then will the world seem to be in concert with Heaven, for by temperance and grace there would not be the gossip and scandal which we use to drive God and everything holy away. Again, the sin of avarice is effectively committed in comorbidity with sacrilege when one speaks falsehood and scandal amongst his neighbors, since he extinguishes with the venom of asps the grace of God and His presence away from them, not unlike the pagan idolaters who caused desolation to the temple as foretold by the prophet Daniel. Further, if one is rightfully revolted by the usurpers who converted the temple of God to a den of robbers and marketplace (Matthew 21:12-13), then surely one ought to be horrified by the leasing of words to the devil; these very words which could either edify or poison the heart, which can not be both: folly like a fly wholly ruining the fragrance of virtue (Ecclesiastes 10:1). Only in presumption would one believe folly and scandal to be acceptable, erringly allowing piecemeal destruction as a treat: the regale of Lucifer’s rebellious angels which makes the choir of Heaven weep. Finally thus, let us be aware that by faltering our allegiance to either purity and scandal we become duplicitous in heart, much like the courtier I spake of, whose words and intentions are incongruent; whose final and efficient causes are scarcely identical.