"And it came to pass, as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The greeting between two people who meet is the most spontaneous and natural action, and most of the time we do not pay attention to it. But if it is missing or a little cold, we feel it. If the greeting is sincere, it communicates many things to us. Mary's greeting, her voice, in addition, provokes something extraordinary. Elizabeth's child not only gasps, which could be the fruit of his mother's emotion, but even dances in her womb. Luke, in describing her reaction, uses the same verb that, in the Greek of the LXX, describes the dance of King David before the Ark of the Covenant.
Mary's voice and her greeting are a means of the infusion of the Holy Spirit, which fills Elizabeth and reaches her son, because that joyful voice is that of a person full of grace, upon whom the Holy Spirit and the shadow of the Most High have descended, and in her already dwells the Son of God. The voice of her greeting acquires the power of the voice of the adult Jesus when he casts out demons or commands Lazarus to come back to life; when he heals from a distance the centurion's servant and the son of Herod's official; when he turns water into wine, and bread into his body and wine into his blood... the voice of Jesus, the Word of God, filled with the Holy Spirit who heals and saves. For now, it is Mary's turn to give voice to the body of Jesus newly conceived in her womb. Her voice manifests the presence of God made man. She is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, an anticipation of the voice of the Church celebrating the sacraments.
The greeting wishes blessing and peace and makes them present. Therefore, Jesus will say to his disciples: "When you enter a house, greet it" (Mt 10:12); "when you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house'" (Lk 10:5), and he will encourage them to greet their enemies as well: "And if you greet only your brethren, what do you do that is extraordinary? Do not the Gentiles also do the same" (Mt 5:47). Greeting is very important in Paul's letters. The last chapter of the Letter to the Romans is a moving list of greetings. "All the churches of Christ greet you." At the end of First Corinthians: "Many greetings, in the Lord, from Aquila and Priscilla, and from the church that meets in their house". At the end of the Second Corinthians: "All the saints greet you". The opening and closing greetings in liturgical gatherings reflect the conviction of the greeting as the bearer of good and grace. Mary, Elizabeth's friend, cannot be aware that she is lending her voice to the first greeting of Jesus, her son. She lives the spontaneous and frank greeting of friendship, which is a manifestation of love.
The homily on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.
