Week 5 of the Church year
എലീശബെത്തിനെ സന്ദർശിച്ചതിന്റെ ഞായർ
Mary hurries into the hill country to see her relative Elizabeth. Before Mary can say much, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps, and Mary answers with a song the Church has sung ever since.
Mary travels to Judea to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth hears her greeting, the baby leaps in her womb and she blesses Mary. Mary replies with the Magnificat and stays about three months.
After two announcements come two women who believed them. The Church also keeps this Sunday as Women’s Day.
Mary’s first act after hearing the news was to go and be with someone else. Joy was meant to be shared.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
Women who followed Jesus and supported his work from their own means.
Martha is busy serving while Mary sits and listens.
Man and woman made in God’s image; Rebekah’s kindness at the well.
Deborah, prophet and judge, leads Israel to victory.
Abigail’s wisdom stops David from taking revenge.
A captive Israelite girl points Naaman to the prophet who can heal him.
Esther risks her life for her people: “who knows, you may have come for such a time as this.”
A wise woman builds her house; the capable wife is worth more than jewels.
Wives and husbands: a gentle and quiet spirit, and honour for one another.
Modesty and good works, and the character asked of women who serve.
Mary visits Elizabeth, the child leaps, and Mary sings the Magnificat. This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesDeborah judges Israel, Abigail stops a massacre with wisdom, Esther risks her life for her people, and a servant girl points her mistress to healing. Proverbs praises a capable woman, and the epistles speak to women in the Church.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
Mary sets out quickly for a town in the hill country of Judah, enters Zechariah’s house and greets Elizabeth.
The journey from Nazareth was several days on foot. Mary makes it as soon as she hears the news.
At Mary’s greeting the baby leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and cries out: blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Gabriel said John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before birth (Luke 1:15). Here it happens.
Elizabeth asks why she should be so honoured that the mother of her Lord comes to her. She blesses Mary for believing.
Elizabeth is the older woman and the wife of a priest. She honours the younger one without any trace of envy.
Mary sings. God has looked on his servant in her lowliness, and all generations will call her blessed. His mercy is on those who fear him.
Mary’s song closely follows Hannah’s prayer after Samuel was born (1 Samuel 2:1–10).
God scatters the proud, brings down the mighty and lifts up the lowly. He fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty. Mary stays about three months and goes home.
Mary sings about these things as if they have already happened. Nothing has changed in the world yet, except that God has come.
The verse to keep
“കർത്താവു തന്നോടു അരുളിച്ചെയ്തതിന്നു നിവൃത്തിയുണ്ടാകും എന്നു വിശ്വസിച്ചവൾ ഭാഗ്യവതി.”“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
Maryമറിയം
Newly pregnant, travelling from Nazareth to Judea.
“Hebrew Miriam; the meaning is uncertain”
Elizabethഎലീശബെത്ത്
In her sixth month, the first person to call Mary the mother of the Lord.
“My God is an oath”
Johnയോഹന്നാൻ
Still unborn, he leaps for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.
“The Lord is gracious”
ആരെയോ തേടിപ്പോകുന്ന സന്തോഷം
Mary has just heard the most astonishing news anyone has ever received. She does not stay home to think about it alone. She packs and goes, quickly, to the one other woman who will understand. Elizabeth is old and pregnant for the first time. Mary is young and pregnant in a way nobody will believe.
When they meet, neither competes. Elizabeth, older and more respected, honours Mary. Mary, honoured, gives all the glory to God. Their meeting turns into a song about a God who notices the lowly and fills the hungry. It begins in an ordinary house with two women talking.
On Women’s Day the Church remembers Deborah, Abigail, Esther and the unnamed girl who pointed Naaman to healing. Many of us also remember the women in our own families who held things together and handed on the faith. Mary and Elizabeth show what they often did: they made room for each other, and God was praised in the middle of it.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
Which woman in your life has passed on faith to you, and how?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Visit or call an older woman in your family or parish and ask her to tell you about her life.
Lord, you looked on the lowliness of your servant Mary. Bless the mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters of our homes and our Church, and let our souls magnify you together. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 3 of 6 in Suboro