Elizabeth, faith and justice

“Zacharias had as wife a descendant of Aaron named Elizabeth. They were righteous before the Lord » (Lk 1,5-6). Thus Luke presents Elizabeth, a barren woman, therefore marked by contempt. Instead the evangelist highlights her importance by birth and, above all, for her trust in God. The name Elizabeth: Elisheba, she who swears by God.
"Descendant of Aaron, called Elizabeth." The clarification of the name already tells us the importance of her because only a few women are known; furthermore, her priestly lineage places her in a higher class. If we then add that she was a "just" woman, we understand that she was a woman open to God's will, faithful to his laws and prescriptions. (She Together with Tamar of the Old Testament she are the only women to be called righteous).

In fact, she did not consider her sterility as a punishment from God, but she saw in it the possibility of devoting herself more to divine worship, because she frees her from the duties of motherhood. Certainly she was not spared the contemptuous allusions, as underlined by the cutting phrase: "she whom everyone said sterile" (1,36). In ancient times the sterile woman was considered a nullity to the point of being able to be disowned by her husband.
Elizabeth was aware that God did not want to humiliate her or make her suffer, she was sure of God's fidelity to her oath, she waited and believed in her despite her advanced age. Eventually, her expectation of her explodes into a hymn of joy when she discovers she is pregnant with her: "This is what she has done (God) for me." She will conceive a son, John the Baptist, Prophet of the Most High.
And it is this news, reported to her by her angel, that pushes Mary to "set out on a journey to the mountain" to visit her "relative". Still surprised and troubled by her announcement that she will be the mother of the Son of God, she wants to share with her the joy of these two births.
Elizabeth, thanks to her intimate union with the Lord, recognizes the divine presence in Mary's womb and welcomes her with a double blessing: for her and for the fruit of her womb while her child leaps for joy in her womb. . This presence confirms to Mary the reliability of the message received from the angel Gabriel: Elizabeth "has conceived a son ... nothing is impossible for God".

"Blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord", with this exclamation Elizabeth recognizes and proclaims Mary's happiness, a beatitude that spans time, as Mary herself will sing: "All generations they will call me blessed ». A happiness that she derives from having believed. As well as Elizabeth that she has never ceased to believe in the faithfulness of the Lord. Elizabeth becomes a model of life for each of us, a model of a life that listens, that opens up to the Other and to others, of a life that welcomes, of a life that is never extinguished, of a life that is always ready to recognize and bless the Lord that passes, that comes to take home in each of us.


Anna Maria Del Prete
NP December 2021