Spiritual Pregnancy

December 12, Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Advent,
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Daily Readings: Zechariah 2:14–17; Luke 1:39–47

At that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. (Luke 1:39)

On the surface, ‘Mary’s visit to Elizabeth’ looks like the  social visit of two pregnant relatives. It becomes a profound mystery of God while considering it as the first meeting of two unborn babies chosen by God to fulfil crucial mandates in salvific history—the visit of the Son of God, the Savior, to His precursor, John the Baptist. 

Further, visitation becomes a divine mystery in the context of the mysteries of God at work through the Holy Spirit. 
▪    Firstly, Virginity and Bareness: It is about how God visited two women, Mary and Elizabeth, in their unique situations of virginity and barrenness. A woman being a virgin while pregnant is a mystery. Elizabeth’s pregnancy in her barrenness and old age is also a mystery. Both are pregnant by the work of the Holy Spirit. 
▪    Secondly, the unborn baby’s leaping for joy: It was Elizabeth’s unborn son who sensed the presence of the Savior in Mary’s womb first, even before Elizabeth sensed the presence of Savior in Mary’s womb. Age, or any human faculties, are not necessary for the Holy Spirit to work.  

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a celebration that commemorates the visitation of Mary to St. Juan Diego, to Mexico and the Americas in 1531. The high-waisted black sash, which signifies her pregnancy with Jesus, portrays her as an expectant mother.

The mystery of Mary’s visitation during pregnancy is like a mirror for us in understanding our Spiritual pregnancy. By the power of the Holy Spirit, each one of us has become the dwelling place of God. God dwells within us. 

Each one of us is a God-bearer, spiritually pregnant with God.   We are called to carry the presence of God into the world. Amen.