He greeted Isabel. What must Mary's greeting have been like? Luke, in describing the first moments of the encounter between the two friends, emphasizes Mary's voice and Elizabeth's hearing and voice. As soon as Elizabeth hears Mary's voice greeting her, her child leaps for joy in her womb. Many things can be understood from the tone of the voice.
Especially women know how to read the voice. The sound of the greeting may have come even before the look and the meeting in person, before the embrace of smiles and tears. The house that tradition has handed down as Zechariah's, in Ain Karin, is spacious and has a large garden. From his social position it is reasonable to think that Zechariah's house was large. Mary enters the estate and signals her presence from a distance with a loud greeting. To reach Elizabeth, her relative and friend, immediately among the various rooms or in the large garden, she sends her unmistakable and beautiful voice. Luke's account contains no verbs indicating seeing each other or meeting, throwing themselves on each other's necks. What predominates is the voice of Mary's greeting, and the voice of Elizabeth who responds "with a loud cry": a very loud voice that remains in the memory of "the mother of my Lord" for the rest of her life.
What words did Mary use in her greeting? Perhaps the same as Gabriel's, which had impressed her and changed her life: "!Kaire ElisabethRejoice Elizabeth, I am Mary, I have come, I am here in the garden! Or similar to those that the risen Jesus addressed to the disciples: "!Peace be with you!"peace be upon you, Isabel". Shalom! Which is a wish for health, happiness, blessing and peace. Or personal words, with that nickname or that affectionate diminutive that was common among them. Or simply the name of Elizabeth, in Aramaic Elischebawhich means "God is perfection" or "God is an oath" or "she who swears by God". In the culture of Mary and Elizabeth, saying the name marked a person's identity and meant entering into a deep relationship with her. In saying Elizabeth's name, Mary thanked God aloud for having fulfilled his word in her. And she communicated to her at the same time, familiarly, that she was already aware of the grace she had received.
What was the tone and warmth of that greeting? A greeting from a young woman, with a strong and beautiful voice, looking for a friend whom she has not seen for a long time, and who does not know of her arrival. A greeting full of waiting after days of travel, a greeting prepared several times in imagination. "Who knows what her surprise will be? He will think that he had not sent me any news of the child and he will wonder how I found out and from whom." Expectation creates waiting, waiting increases excitement.
Homily on the Assumption readings
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.
