since he is all-powerful?” It is true that God is all-powerful and He could do this, but he never does anything without our consent. All souls do not enter into the disposition that he requires. All souls that advance understand one thing: that God wishes for them to be a new sacrifice. If God wishes to give them extraordinary grace, he gives them contentment before he introduces them into the new state.
The angel’s announcement about these extraordinary things is now finished. The Word will produce this operation. Now Gabriel no longer addresses Mary but Joseph.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:39–41)
As soon as Mary conceives the Word in her being, then she leaves to do the work of an apostle. The infant God from the womb of Mary will work here the great mystery of sanctification in John the Baptist while still in the womb of Elizabeth. Oh, if we knew the great things going on in the communications between the faithful and God! When a person who has Jesus Christ formed within her approaches another who is well disposed, she communicates a certain life-giving principle that fills the other person’s soul with joy and contentment. There operates in the person a grace that is not understood, but experienced as good. This is the communication of the Word with John. He receives the sanctification of the merit and courage of future repentance. Mary greets and embraces Elizabeth and in this chaste embrace John becomes sanctified. Oh, the wonderful communion that happens among Mary, Elizabeth, Jesus Christ, and John, during the three months that they remain together! It was a communion of quiet but a profound and efficacious quiet. From afar Jesus Christ instructs John during these three months. John learns while in the womb of his mother this intimate and interior communication with Jesus Christ. In his life John the Baptist went to tell others about Jesus Christ and yet in the world he did not look for Jesus Christ. Did he not know that Jesus Christ was there, John who taught this to others? If John knew, why did he not go look for Jesus Christ? Was this a mistake? Who would believe that? Was John the Baptist indifferent to Jesus Christ? No, it was because he did not need human communication with Jesus Christ. They already had a profound and ineffable communication. John had to do only one thing and that was the will of God. John did not need to go find Jesus Christ, because Christ had already given him his movements. John was content with his life, as he worked at the ministry and office that Jesus Christ had given him. John with his state and dispositions was already united with Jesus Christ and even more, he had already been with Jesus Christ. So it was not a new thing to see Jesus Christ. John knew Jesus Christ first, not in the exterior, but in the secret virtue that Christ communicates within. This pure and sublime communication is experienced within. Oh, the experience of this! The Holy Spirit communicates these ineffable communications. Those that experience them have a germ of life given to them that they cannot fully distinguish.
Elizabeth exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Luke 1:42–43)
When the soul receives the impression of the Word, she cries out to the one who communicates this, as does Elizabeth when she receives the Word, Blessed are you among women! Oh, the great blessing we have when Jesus Christ is communicated to us! Oh, wonderful fertility for that which was sterile is now fertile! Mary is blessed among women, because she was destined not only to bear the mystical Word in her as a chosen soul, but also in reality and in the body. This is why Elizabeth said to her, Blessed is the fruit of your womb! This is the blessing of a double benediction. Not only does she contain the treasure of divinity, but because this fruit extends from infinity and communicates infinity, all creation is blessed in him. The other souls in whom Jesus Christ is formed and carried in their hearts will also bless others through the fruit of their heart. Mary’s heart is made fertile so the Word can be produced in other hearts. Mary has a double fertility of both her heart and her womb in bringing Jesus Christ to the earth.
Elizabeth cries again, And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? Mary who produces the Word in hearts has come to see Elizabeth in the flesh. Oh, the great advantage that the souls in whom Jesus Christ is formed communicate to others! If we knew the blessing that they give, we would be charmed. Oh, great and admirable things that they express to us!
For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord. (Luke 1:44–45)
Elizabeth discovers a great mystery that proves the communications between interior souls. If a person in the apostolic state speaks to another one, grace produces a certain thrill of joy in the heart. This is the communication of the Word that expresses and imprints this in the apostolic soul who speaks. The marvelous effect in the heart and these words are immediate. God touches John in this moment. O wonderful impact of these communications! So different from what we imagine! They are the conversions that surprise the world and we do not know the cause of them, but these grand things come only by faith. The promises of God are infallible when faith is made without hesitation and defiance. Mary was very happy when she first believed. Her happiness came from her faith.
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46–47)
Mary loses herself in this immense happiness and does not defend herself from this joy. That would be propriety and contrary to truth and simplicity. Propriety deprives God of his very great glory. We must know God’s goodness and publish this, when God moves us to do this. The truth moves Mary to speak without excuse or embarrassment, without hiding what God out of his mercy has done for her. She says, My soul magnifies the Lord and publicize the effects of his goodness and power. My spirit rejoices, not only in that which is ordinary. My spirit is always ravished by God and passes into him. The joy that I have causes me ecstasy and this joy is in God my Savior. I am his child and he is within me; he is my Savior. And as my Savior, he gives me powerful and abundant redemption. Annihilated souls know not to defend themselves from his glory or to hide from others the mercies of God.
“For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48)
Following this, Mary says that God has given her justice. She confesses that God has looked with favor on her, not because of her qualities, but because of his mercy. God sees the depths of Mary’s humiliation and pours mercy on her. God’s mercy forms Jesus Christ within the soul and this annihilates Mary. This annihilation is profound because of the great plenitude of the Word within the soul. God is pleased to fill this valley. No one else will ever be as annihilated as Mary. Oh, the profound wonder of the annihilation of Mary, which can never be comprehended except by contemplating the graces that God has given her! Mary does not say that God looks upon her purity, or her saintliness, or her virtues, but her lowliness and humiliation. She has nothing of her own but her lowliness and humiliation. That is why she adds, all generations will call me blessed.
“For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:49)
With strength Mary explains this. She says that the Mighty One has done great things. And she adds, His name is holy. Mary says that God has raised her to this eminent grace, yet she claims none of this holiness as her own. God is holy within her. It is as if she would add, “For me I am in the most profound annihilation that a creature can be in.” We are astonished when we see certain interior souls who have no difficulty confessing and publishing the mercies of God. Confessing that everything is of God, they give God all the glory and keep nothing for themselves. God is all and in all. The soul is then exempt from propriety. This is why she is in a state to publish the mercies of God without attributing anything to herself and stealing anything from God. If she does not do this and hides what God does, then she becomes proprietary.
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