“Blessed is she who believed”: Lk 1:45 and the faith of Mary

“Blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled” (Lk 1:45): this beatitude of Elizabeth, pronounced at the moment of the Visitation, is the only one of the Gospel beatitudes addressed directly to Mary. The article analyzes the verse in the original Greek, its place in the narrative of the Visitation, the signs accepted, Mary’s movement, the greeting received, and what the text reveals about the faith of Mary in seven distinct theological dimensions, according to Lucan exegesis.

The Greek of Lk 1:45: makaria, the verb pisteusasa and the aorist of fulfilled faith

“Blessed is she who believed that the words of the Lord will be fulfilled” (Lk 1:45): this is the beatitude that Elizabeth proclaims to Mary at the moment of the Visitation. It is one of the most beautiful phrases of the Infancy Gospel and constitutes the first beatitude of the New Testament. Before the Sermon on the Mount, before the beatitudes addressed to the poor and to the meek, it is Mary who receives the first proclamation of evangelical happiness, and she receives it for her faith: not for her holiness, not for her divine motherhood, but because she believed. The verse is set within the pericope of the Visitation (Lk 1:39-56), immediately before the Magnificat, and is key to understanding what Luke means to say about the faith of Mary.

Elizabeth’s sign and Mary’s decision: why she goes up to the hill country of Judah without an explicit command from the angel (Lk 1:36-39)

The question of why Mary goes immediately to the hill country of Judah, since the angel gave her no explicit command to that effect, still remains. Well, if she goes up to the hill country of Judah, it is in no way to verify the truth of the angel’s words, but, on the contrary, to accept in full obedience the invitation that the angel implicitly extended to her: to contemplate the sign that the Lord wishes to give her through Elizabeth.

This invitation is expressed in the “behold”, which could literally be translated as “look”, “see”! Now, Mary is the true believer who does not refuse the sign that the Lord grants her and goes up into the hill country to visit her elderly kinswoman, miraculously with child. In this, Mary appears as the opposite of the figure of the unbelieving Ahaz, who refused the sign that the Lord offered him through the prophet Isaiah: “I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test” (Is 7:12). Then the prophet rebukes him severely: “Is it not enough for you to weary the patience of men, that now you want to weary the patience of my God?” (Is 7:13).

As an authentic believer, Mary undertakes her long journey to “see” what the Lord is doing in the midst of His people, to contemplate with Elizabeth the powerful and saving action of the God of Israel and to magnify the Lord with her. Thus an exhortation to the reader is also implied: like Mary, he is called to have a faith “with open eyes”, a faith that seeks to understand what God is doing in the history of his other brothers and sisters, in particular by offering them the clearest sign of His mercy and faithfulness: the gift of children!

Mary in movement: the Visitation (Lk 1:39-45) as an act of faith in action and the fulfillment of the angelic promise

The evangelist presents us with an intense portrait of Mary “in movement”. It is a movement that takes place “with haste”, a term dear to Luke, used to indicate a strong religious impulse, that is, a great passion that takes hold of the human being, as in the case of the shepherds who go “with haste” to Bethlehem (Lk 2:16) impelled by the angelic announcement. We may also recall the haste of Zacchaeus, who comes down from the tree almost tumbling (Lk 19:6), although the same Greek word is not used, and the readiness of the disciples of Emmaus who return to the city to announce to the Eleven the resurrection of the Lord.

Moreover, a similar “haste” can be found in various texts of the Old Testament, all permeated by a religious atmosphere, as, for example, the haste of Abraham at the oaks of Mamre as he runs to the herd and prepares a banquet for the three divine guests (cf. Gen 18).

Here Luke wishes to highlight his intention to draw the reader’s attention to Mary’s readiness and agility in going up to the hill country of Judah. With this image, he wishes to provoke him positively and implicitly to make him reflect on his own readiness for the mission and to recognize the need to overcome the hesitation and the doubts that often impede a faithful adherence to the divine promise.

The destination of the journey is also very significant: “the hill country”. Mary goes toward a village whose name remains anonymous, but with an easily recognizable horizon, that is, the mountains that surround Jerusalem. This undeniably refers us to the famous verse of Is 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good news… who says to Zion: ‘Your God reigns’”.

Mary’s greeting to Elizabeth (Lk 1:40-41): the meeting of the two mothers and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Visitation

The journey ends with the entrance into the house of Zechariah and the greeting to Elizabeth. In Mary’s greeting there is not only the fulfillment of a formality, of a custom of good manners, but an efficacious word that accomplishes what is promised. With the “missionary” Mary, what Jesus will say to His envoys is already verified: “Whatever house you enter, first say: ‘Peace to this house!’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him” (Lk 10:5-6).

The gift of peace, of abundant joy, accompanies Mary’s greeting to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the child leaps for joy in her womb. These are the fruits of the good news: when it enters someone’s life, as in the case of Elizabeth who receives Mary’s greeting of peace, it produces joy and nourishes that uncontainable exultation generated by the outpouring of the Spirit, the gift of the new messianic times.

Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, then speaks with prophetic words, and it can also rightly be affirmed that through her the child she carries in her womb likewise speaks, for he too is filled with the Holy Spirit. In this way the reader, through the words of Elizabeth, is invited to share her wonder at Mary, the handmaid of the Lord and the faithful one!

The scene of exuberant joy recalls once more the text of Isaiah about the arrival of the messenger of good news in Zion. Elizabeth’s response is a loud cry, a shout of exultation, just like that of the sentinels of Jerusalem who receive the thrilling news firsthand: “Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voice, together they shout for joy, for with their own eyes they see the return of the Lord to Zion” (Is 52:8).

Meanwhile, Mary remains silent and listens to the words of Elizabeth. She is an extremely evocative silent figure because, besides announcing the good news and bringing the awaited greeting of peace, she also knows how to keep silent and listen, contemplating the fruits of the Gospel in hearts. Then the silence will end, and when she speaks, it will be only to magnify her God.

Luke is sketching an ideal portrait of the Christian who becomes a witness: Truly efficacious proclamation has its roots in listening and in contemplation! What is happening in this house of Zechariah with the meeting of the two women is a marvelous event of communion in love and in faith. It is an event whose protagonists are not only the mothers, but also the children. Elizabeth recognizes in Mary not only a kinswoman who desires to be near her in a moment of need, but the fulfillment of God’s promise to visit His people.

He is the God who visits humanity by giving life and asking it to cooperate with His plan of salvation, thus recognizing in the gift of a child His own near presence. It is an event of communion in which there shines through an aspect of the people of God as a community formed by a network of families, symbolized here by the two women who embrace each other and rejoice together. It is a contagious joy, full of wonder, which extends to the communion that the two mothers experience with their children, feeling their exultation in their wombs.

Mary’s silence and Elizabeth’s praise (Lk 1:41-44): faith as active listening and the prophecy about pisteusasa

Meanwhile, Mary remained silent and listened to Elizabeth’s discourse. She is an extremely evocative silent figure because, besides announcing the good news and bringing the awaited greeting of peace, she also knows how to keep silent and listen, contemplating the fruits of the Gospel in hearts. Then the silence will end, and when she speaks, it will be only to magnify her God. Luke is thus sketching an ideal portrait of the Christian who becomes a witness: truly efficacious proclamation has its roots in listening and in contemplation!

Let us now examine Elizabeth’s discourse closely. She begins with an acclamation that should not be considered merely a simple congratulation: “Blessed are you among women” (v. 42), and concludes with another exclamation, a beatitude: “blessed is she who believed…” (v. 45). In between there is an interrogative sentence, full of surprise and wonder: “Why does the mother of my Lord come to me?” Beginning from this verse, it is useful to start to understand Elizabeth’s discourse about Mary.

She emphasizes her own complete unworthiness and, by contrast, the eminent dignity of the “mother of my Lord”. Here we can perceive an echo of an episode of the Old Testament, that of David, who asks himself in surprise the reason why God decided to enter his house: “How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9). Nevertheless, David’s question also indicates his hesitation in receiving the ark of the Lord, something “fearful” for man. Here, on the other hand, Elizabeth’s astonishment is completely imbued with joy, wonder and gratitude, without any shadow of fear.

The expression with which Elizabeth addresses Mary indicates the reason for the incomparable greatness and dignity of the one who has come to visit her: the son whom Mary carries in her womb is “the Lord”! It can also be said that the greatness of the Son communicates still greater dignity to the mother. If in ancient Israel motherhood was always something very lofty, this pregnancy of Mary is a motherhood of a dignity still more unattainable because of the divine nature of the son given to her by the Most High.

Elizabeth’s affirmations need an explanation so that they do not appear exaggerated or excessive. This is what she hastens to clarify: “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the child leaped for joy in my womb” (v. 44). Elizabeth speaks of herself, but only to show the awareness of her own poverty and humility, together with the joy for the undeserved grace that she received with Mary’s visit to her house, a grace that is added to that of the child who is growing within her. Humility and faith are inseparable, and it is only in humility that we recognize the greatness of God.

Now let us pause on the two exclamatory sentences that open and close Elizabeth’s discourse: the initial blessing and the final beatitude. Elizabeth’s initial exclamation (“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”) is not a direct quotation from the Bible, but it is a very well-known theme in the Old Testament (cf. Judg 5:24; Jdt 13:18). One may think here of the blessings of Abraham by Melchizedek, after the victory over the four kings (Gen 14:19ff).

What all these texts have in common is that these blessings are proclaimed over the hero or heroine who has just won an extraordinary victory. Well, what victory is at stake here for Mary? Clearly, it is the victory of her faith, attained through prompt and trusting obedience to God’s plan. In the analogous texts of the Old Testament, after the blessing of the hero or heroine, the blessing of God generally follows, for He secured the victory for His hero (cf. Gen 14:19-20).

Here something similar happens, but also profoundly different and original: after the blessing of the mother, the blessing of the son she carries in her womb follows. This last blessing may then be considered a proclamation of God’s benevolent action toward the son she carries, in the same way as the one addressed to the mother, or, and this seems more pertinent, it must be understood that Elizabeth raises her blessing to that “fruit of Mary’s womb”, precisely because He is the One who gave her the victory! Interpreted in this way, the two sentences, respecting the Aramaic substratum of the phrase spoken by Elizabeth about Mary, would sound like: “You are blessed among women, for the fruit of your womb is the Blessed One”.

Lk 1:45: Elizabeth’s beatitude and the theological dimensions of the verb pisteusasa

Now we come to the exclamation with which Elizabeth closes her discourse and proclaims the beatitude of Mary: “And blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of what the Lord said to her” (v. 45). It should be noted that the Semitic expression underlying the biblical declarations of “blessed” is never an isolated exclamation, but always refers to an explicit subject, for whom the reason for this congratulation is in some way motivated. In other words, there is never the exclamation “blessed!” without an indication of “who” is blessed.

The beatitude differs from the blessing, although it is close to it. The blessing comes from above and is therefore an efficacious bringing about of happiness with regard to the one who is “blessed”. The beatitude does not produce happiness, but observes it with wonder in someone, in some way shares in it and awakens the desire for it. It should also be observed that the “beatitude” is a literary form fundamentally related to the religious sphere. One does not proclaim someone “blessed” simply because he possesses material goods, independently of their eventual religious meaning.

The beatitude, in the final analysis, proclaims salvation, exalting with praise a person or a group of individuals, precisely because of their condition of salvation, which makes them blessed, happy. Here, Mary’s beatitude is recognized as grounded in her faith, by which she acknowledges the fulfillment of the word of the Lord, affirming the faithfulness and the goodness of the divine action toward humanity.

Therefore, the declaration of beatitude is also an explanation: Mary is in the beatitude of faith, because in faith, by believing in the Word of God, she became the Mother of the Lord (cf. Lk 8:21; 11:28)! Thus, to the inspired words of Elizabeth, full of wonder at the Mother of the Lord, Mary will respond, in her Magnificat, shifting the focus from her own person to the holiness and mercy of God, who has done “great things” in her.

In it, Mary intones a canticle of praise articulated in three intimately linked moments: overflowing gratitude for what the Lord has done in her, joy at the paradoxical style of the divine intervention in human history and, finally, the exaltation of His faithfulness in fulfilling the promises made to Israel and destined for all humanity.

The Visitation as the gospel of life: faith, generation and the mission of Mary in Luke’s narrative

The passage of the Visitation represents an image of the vocation that the family expresses and lives through the generation of a child. Mary hears the word of the angel and responds with a “yes” of faith. This “yes” constitutes the condition for God’s promise to be realized. At that very moment of conception, Jesus is destined according to a vocation and a promise that come from God and are embraced by Mary’s faith. This vocation is concentrated in the very name of Jesus, which means “God saves”.

It is important to note that the first result of this event of salvation is a communion of love and faith that involves not only the mothers, but also the children. Their vocation is intrinsically linked to the response of faith of the mothers. It is astonishing to note that the children in their mothers’ wombs exult with joy to the point that the mothers are able to perceive that joy and to share it with them.

This twofold listening, to the Word of God and to the gospel of life that emanates from the children, reveals the key elements of the commitment that characterizes the educative action of parents. Moreover, it constitutes the foundation for the formation of the community in the Kingdom of God. This reality finds a profound expression in the chosen phrase: “Blessed is She who believed…”.

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On the faith of Mary celebrated in the words of Lk 1:45, “Blessed is she who believed”, see the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater of Pope John Paul II.