Worth waiting for (Henri Nouwen)

   One of the most beautiful passages in scripture is Luke 1:39-56, which tells us about Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. What happened when Mary received the words of promise? She went to Elizabeth. Something was happening to Elizabeth as well as Mary. But how could they live that out?

   I find the meeting of these two women very moving because Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait. Mary’s visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for. The child leapt for joy in her. Mary affirmed Elizabeth’s waiting. And then Elizabeth said to Mary, Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. And Mary responded, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. She burst into joy herself. These two women created space for each other to wait. They affirmed for each other that something was happening worth waiting for.

   Here we see a model for Christian community. It is a community of support, celebration, and affirmation in which we can lift up what has already begun in us. The visit of Elizabeth and Mary is one of the Bible’s most beautiful expressions of what it means to form community, to be together, gathered around a promise, affirming what is happening among us.

--Henri Nouwen, The Path of Waiting

Image source: Master M S (Hungary), The Visitation (ca. 1506), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Visitation_(MS)#/media/File:Master_M_S_-_The_Visitation_-_WGA14334.jpg