Gospel Commentary: House to House

By Fr. Paul Scalia
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 8/12/04)

Our Lady had various reasons for hastening to visit Elizabeth. For starters, she could provide some assistance during the older woman’s unexpected and probably difficult pregnancy. Furthermore, she made the journey to see for herself the sign the Archangel Gabriel had given: "Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren" (Lk 1:12-13). The greatest reason for her visit, however, was not just to help out around the house or even to witness a miracle; it was to bring her interior life — the faith she carried in her heart and the Child she carried in her womb.

Consider Mary’s faith first. As an ancient saying has it, Mary conceived the Lord in her heart before she conceived Him in her womb. Her motherhood is first of all spiritual, a matter of faith. We venerate Mary primarily because of her trust in the Lord, and not only because of her physical motherhood. In her greeting Elizabeth proclaims, "Blessed are you who believed" (Lk 1:45). And in Mary’s own hymn of praise, she who bore our Lord physically points to her spiritual life: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior" (Lk 1:46-47).

Moreover, Mary had the unique privilege of bearing not only the spiritual fruit of her prayer, but also the physical presence of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. "Blessed is the fruit of your womb," Elizabeth exclaims — and we echo that daily. At the time of the Visitation, God Himself dwelled within the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her physical presence brought His divine presence. It was the "House of God" who entered "the house of Zechariah" (Lk 1:40).

Of course, Mary houses our Lord in a most intimate manner, and not as a building houses us. She is not just a dwelling place, but the person from whom He receives flesh, blood and nourishment. Her body provides Him with a body: her blood becomes His, her flesh becomes His, her Immaculate Heart causes His Sacred Heart to beat. We rejoice that when we receive the Eucharist our Lord nourishes us with His Body and Blood. At the time of the Visitation, however, Mary rejoiced that she nourished our Lord with her own body and blood.

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth already hints at her entrance into heaven. Both the Visitation and the Assumption touch on the sanctity of Mary’s body. There is in these two events, a marvelous exchange: at the Visitation Mary provides her body as the Lord’s dwelling place on earth; at the Assumption the Lord provides a dwelling place for her body in heaven. Given that He assumed His sacred humanity — body and soul — from Mary, how fitting that He assume her entirely — body and soul — into heaven. He brings His earthly dwelling into His celestial home. How fitting that the House of God be brought to God’s house, that He assume into heaven the body from which He had assumed His body.

What was true for Mary in a unique manner holds true for us as well: we are to house the Lord. We do so spiritually beginning at our baptism, when the Trinity makes His dwelling within our souls. We house Him physically in the reception of the Eucharist, when our Lord makes His dwelling within us according to His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Our end will also bear a likeness to Mary’s: to the extent that we provide a dwelling place for the Lord in this world, we will have "a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven" (2 Cor 5:1).

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