Luke 1:39-45 (CEB)

39 Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. 40 She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. 43 Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.”


Reflection

“Happy is she who believed.”

As Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, speaks these words – I can’t help wondering: are they directed to Mary, to herself, to both, to all of us?

Elizabeth and Zechariah were an older couple. They had always wanted a child but had never been blessed with one. But in their old age, God had made this promise to them: Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son. They believed it, and John was born. Mary likewise had received the promise of a miraculous, out-of-the-ordinary birth. She too had believed it, and Jesus was born.

There can be no blessing where there is no believing. God may have a million things in store for us – blessings of relationships, fulfilling and fruitful vocation, opportunities to use our gifts to serve the world – but so long as we lack faith to believe, those blessings can never come to fruition.

Happy are WE who believe!

By Joe Monahan


For Pondering & Prayer

Some blessings come as a surprise, but others are out there, waiting to be claimed by those who have the faith to pursue them. What’s one blessing that you’ve pursued because you believed in God’s promises? How does that experience inspire you to greater faith?

Often, we don’t believe that we are ________ enough to do something God is calling us to do (you can fill in your own blank). How might your failure to believe be keeping you from blessing those around you?