Saint Ubaldus of Gubbio by Ermes Dovico

GOSPEL PEARLS

All four are saints

"The infant in my womb leaped for joy." (Lk 1: 44)

Gospel Pearls 21_12_2019

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled." (Lk 1: 39-45)

Mary, even though she is pregnant, goes to help Elizabeth who is also expecting, however at much more advanced age. So it is that Jesus meets His precursor John, the greatest of the prophets. For the first time John gives testimony to Jesus, leaping in the womb. In the story of the Visitation, there are not only two women who meet, but also two children: four saints in total. The protection of pregnancy is essential for the future of humanity. We must therefore strive to eliminate the laws, but also the mentality, that consider the “free choice” of women a right, rather than the right to life of the child in the womb.