A Novena to St Joseph : Day 2 - The Visitation

2) The Visitation

Thou great with Him, forthwith didst haste

To give thy cousin greeting;

He the unborn John inspired and blest

At that most hallowed meeting. Hail Mary.

Quo impraegnata citius

cognatam visitasti:

Ioannemque celeriter

in ventre sanctificasti. Ave Maria.

Pregnant with Him, thou didst immediately journey to visit thy kinswoman : and full speedily didst  thou bless and sanctify John in his mother’s womb.

The Gospel account

Mary had been told by Gabriel that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, was expecting a child despite her advanced years. Accordingly, rising up in those days, Mary went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. It is believed that Elizabeth and Zachary were living in Ein Karem at the time, which is roughly 100 miles from Nazareth. Ein Karem is about 2,500 feet above sea level, some 1,300 higher than Nazareth. The journey would have been physically demanding and there was a risk of meeting robbers. It is  reasonable to suppose that Joseph would have accompanied his young wife, perhaps arranging to travel with others in a caravan, before returning to his work as a carpenter in Nazareth.

Mary entered into the house of Zachary, and greeted Elizabeth; and it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: she cried out with a loud voice, and said: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb; and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.” 

Notes

John dances with joy in his mother's womb. This surely corresponds to his having been freed at this instant from Original Sin. His birth will be only the third in history of a baby free from all sin, the other two being Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, the Immaculate Conception. These three alone are honoured by feast days on their birthdays. 

Another prophet, David, is recorded as dancing and leaping with joy before the Ark of the Covenant, some 1000 years before the Visitation. Here are the parallels between David and John:

David                                                                John the Baptist

                                                                   

Prophet                                                             Prophet

Leaping and dancing with joy before               Leaping and dancing with joy before  

the Ark of the Covenant, containing:                the Blessed Virgin Mary, bearing within her womb:

    the Word of God on the tablets of stone       the Word made flesh, Jesus Son of God

    Manna                                                           the living bread from heaven [John vi 41]

    the rod of Aaron, High Priest                        the eternal High Priest

John, through his actions, is fulfilling his role as Prophet and Forerunner; through his joyful dancing in his mother’s womb, he announces: Ecce Agnus Dei, Behold the Lamb of God. The Ark of the Covenant (Fœderis Arca) is one of the titles of Mary in the Litany of Loreto.

In Tissot’s picture above, Joseph is a silent witness to this event, which is surely among the most remarkable in human history. 

Prayer asking St Joseph to be one's companion and guide in this life

Oratio, ut S. Ioseph in via vitae huius ducem et comitem impetremus.  

O SAINT JOSEPH, just as thou as father and mentor didst most faithfully guide Jesus Christ during His boyhood and adolescence through His journeys in this life, I beseech thee to assist me in the wanderings of my life as just such a companion and guide. Never permit me to turn aside from the path of God's commandments. Be for me a protection in adversity, and a solace in hardship, until I finally arrive in the land of the living, where I may rejoice forever with thee, with the most holy spouse Mary, and with all the saints in my God Jesus. Amen.

O S. IOSEPH! qui tanquam pater et manuductor Christum Iesum in pueritia et iuventute per omnes peregrinationis humanæ vias fidelissime deduxisti: et mihi obsecro in vitae meæ peregrinatione tanquam comes et ductor assiste, nec unquam permitte me a via mandatorum Dei declinare; sis in adversis præsidium, in ærumnis solatium, donec tandem ad terram viventium perveniam, ubi tecum et sanctissima sponsa tua Maria, omnibusque Sanctis æternum in Deo Iesu meo exultem. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.