On May 31 we celebrate the feast of the visit of the Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-56).
The meeting of two women favored by God has been commemorated since the very beginning of the Church, both in the East and in the West. But it was not until the calendar reform, after the Second Vatican Council, that the Visitation ceased to be celebrated on July 2nd and was moved to May 31, between the Annunciation and the Birth of the Baptist.
In the S. XVII Saint Francis de Sales affirmed: "Mary left the solitude of Nazareth and undertook the journey towards Ain Karem, carrying God in her womb, like a pre-eucharist, it was the first Corpus Christi procession that began that day, and she , Mary, the first mostrance, the most beautiful that has ever existed on earth.
We too are bearers of God, and if He dwells within us, we must leave, like Mary, a trail of His presence in our wake.
The Virgin got up quickly and went to the mountains of Judea to teach us the speed with which she has to correspond to divine inspirations and execute the will of God. And Mary's song, “The Magnificat” is a profound recognition of her smallness and an overflow of her love for God, made praise.
Fr. Claudio