12/10/2022
There are times when the best decisions you will ever make will require you to walk some of the hardest journeys. Thatβs where we meet Mary, πππΎ πππππΎπ ππΏ π©πΎπππ-watching her walk a miraculous life journey that had to have felt unbearable at times. Itβs also where we meet her relative Elizabeth.
Mary, engaged to Joseph.
Mary, who has been visited and spoken to by the angel Gabriel.
Mary, who said yes to God and now had to live with the societal consequences of her yes.
Mary, a young girl with few options, needed comfort and knew she could go to Elizabeth.
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To fully appreciate the gift of Elizabeth, we need to remember that Elizabethβs life wasnβt sunshine and roses when Mary showed up. Elizabeth had a lot going on. After decades of infertility and the societal stigma involved, she was now pregnant with John the Baptist. Her husband had been visited in the temple by the angel of the Lord and is now mute.
β¨Elizabeth had quite a bit on her plate and leaves town to breathe a bit...then teenaged pregnant Mary shows up.
β¨Thereβs no shame. There are open arms & greeting, βπ£ππ¦π΄π΄π¦π₯ π’π³π¦ πΊπ°πΆ...β Mary was walking a journey never walked and she went to someone she knew was safe, someone who would love her, someone who believed her. She went to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, 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 and that life often walks us on long journeys we wouldnβt choose ourselves.
β¨ May we each have an Elizabeth.
May each of us be willing to be someone elseβs Elizabeth as well.
