The country and the church are beset by scandals that prey on women and on the young, vulnerable populations are vilified, people must flee to the desert to survive. History seems hopeless. Despair seems the only response.
[Sunday]’s gospel provides a powerful antidote, in the solidarity of women we see at the visitation. Mary, herself in the midst of a precarious pregnancy is also moved to travel. And we have a scene in the gospel where only two women speak. Only women. Speaking. No one interrupting, no one correcting. No one mansplaining. No “actually.”
Filled with the Spirit, both of them proclaim. REJOICING in one another’s presence, in their precarious circumstances, rejoicing in their communion, they are moved to preach the presence of God within them. Elizabeth shouts! She “cries out in a loud voice” Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. Blessed are you, Mary, for believing God’s promises. This prompts a most unusual reaction in Mary: prophecy [in the form] of the Magnificat.
This story is filled with women misbehaving. Traveling (alone? Maybe), being loud, speaking theologically of God’s plan for the world. What prompts them to do this, to move outside of the permissible? The spirit of God present within them and between them, in their friendship and their bond. The bond between women that proclaims the truth—the ways in which women have, historically, heard one another into speech, is on display in the visitation.
--Natalia Imperatori-Lee
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