A Thought for the week
Week of December 8
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:39-45
The story of Jesus and John’s birth overlap in this moment. Mary visits Elizabeth after being visited by the angel Gabriel. In that visit, John “leaped” in Elizabeth’s womb. The news of Jesus and the Gospel is something to be excited about. So much so that even in cramped space like John was in, he made a movement. Life might feel tight and tense but in the news of Jesus we are made to move; even in the littlest ways.