Elizabeth and Mary

There are times when the best decisions you will ever make will require you to walk some of the hardest journeys. That’s where we meet Mary, the mother of Jesus-watching her walk a miraculous life journey that had to have felt unbearable at times. It’s also where we meet her relative Elizabeth.

▪️Mary, engaged to Joseph.

▪️Mary, who has been visited & spoken to by the angel Gabriel.

▪️Mary, who said yes to God & now had to live with the societal consequences of her yes.

▪️Mary, a young girl with few options, needed comfort & knew she could go to Elizabeth.

To fully appreciate the gift of Elizabeth, we need to remember that Elizabeth’s life wasn’t sunshine & roses when Mary showed up. Elizabeth had a lot going on. After decades of infertility & the societal stigma involved, she was now pregnant with John the Baptist. Her husband was visited in the temple by the angel of the Lord & is now mute.

Elizabeth had quite a bit on her plate & leaves town to breathe a bit...then teenaged pregnant Mary shows up.

There’s no shame. There are open arms & greeting, “blessed are you...” Mary was walking a journey never walked & she went to someone she knew was safe, someone who would love her, someone who believed her. She went to Elizabeth.

▪️Elizabeth, the wife of a priest, had felt the ever watchful eyes of society.

▪️Elizabeth, who had wisdom to understand to not look at life merely from a surface level.

▪️Elizabeth, who understood that faith still moves mountains & that life often walks us on long journeys we wouldn’t choose ourselves.

🔸May we each have an Elizabeth.

🔸May each of us be willing to be someone else’s Elizabeth as well.