Fourth Sunday of Advent – Cycle B
Statue of Mary and Elizabeth outside Church of the Visitation
Every year at this time I find myself thinking about a beautiful song about Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, which of course occurs right after today’s Gospel account of the Annunciation. My favorite lyrics are the last two lines of the second stanza. Here are the words, reprinted with permission from Sr. Miriam Therese Winter of the Medical Mission Sisters:
THE VISIT
She walked in the summer, through the heat on the hill.
She hurried as one who went with a will.
She danced in the sunlight when the day was done.
Her heart knew no evening. She carried the Sun.
Fresh as a flower at the first ray of dawn
She came to her cousin, whose morning had gone.
There leaped a little child in the ancient womb
And there leaped a little hope in every ancient tomb.
Hail, little sister you herald the spring.
Hail, brave mother, you carried our King.
Hail to the Moment beneath your breast.
May all generations call you blessed.
When you walk in the summer through the heat on the hill
When you’re one with the wind, and one with God’s will,
Be glad with the burden you are blessed to bear.
For it’s Christ who you carry everywhere, everywhere… everywhere.
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In what ways are you carrying Christ everywhere, everywhere, everywhere?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).