Dear brothers and sisters, good evening!
It gives me much joy to see all of you! Thank you for having made the pilgrimage to be here! I think of the Virgin Mary, who also travelled, in order to visit Elizabeth: “Mary set out and went with haste” (Lk 1:39). We might ask, why did Mary set out and go with haste to visit her cousin? Certainly, Mary had just learned that Elizabeth was pregnant, but so was she; so why go, if no one had asked her to? Mary does something that was not asked of her, and that she did not have to do. Mary goes because she loved, and “whoever loves flies, runs and rejoices” (The Imitation of Christ, III, 5). That is what love does to us.
Mary’s joy is twofold: she had just received the angel’s message that she would welcome the Redeemer of the world, and she was also given the news that her cousin was pregnant. This is interesting: instead of thinking about herself, she thinks of the other.
You can view video of the event by clicking on this Youtube link: https://youtu.be/WWURKpQsb7s 