Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today we remember a visit. Mary, having just learned from the angel that she would become a mother, sets out and goes to her relative Elizabeth, who at her age is also expecting a child — the one who will be John the Baptist. Only Luke tells the story. He says Mary set out *meta spoudēs*, and that Greek expression can be rendered in several ways: promptly, in haste, but also with great care, with concern. She was going to help an older woman in the last months of her pregnancy, and perhaps also to ask her advice. Part of the scene is the greeting at the door — “blessed are you among women” — which became the second line of the Hail Mary, after the angel’s words. And Mary’s answer, the Magnificat, which is the most subversive text in the New Testament: he has brought down the mighty from their thrones, lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. The feast falls on May 31, closing the month dedicated to Mary, and it sits between the Annunciation on March 25 and the birth of the Baptist on June 24: the calendar tells the story in the order it happened. The Smorfia puts the Madonna at number eight. If your name is Mary, today is your name day — and it has been the most common name in Italy for centuries.