No human relationship is all that it ought to be until it has been elevated to the level of friendship. Lovers can get married, but if they don’t develop a friendship, the marriage won’t last. Parents and children need to develop a friendship for their love to last. Even when we meet people in the workplace or in community, a relationship won’t last until we develop a friendship with the other person. When all is well, we are not thinking of what is missing in our lives. But when serious trouble enters, we want the reassuring presence of a close friend. We expose our hearts to our friends in hope of finding healing hands and a healing heart.
 
    So, here we have Mary—a young, unmarried woman and pregnant; and Elizabeth—beyond child bearing age and pregnant and living with her husband, Zechariah, who has not been able to speak for months! Elizabeth also knows that--according to Jewish law—Mary could have been put to death because she is an unmarried pregnant woman.
 
    When the messenger tells Mary that her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, is pregnant, Mary immediately makes plans—probably through a caravan—to visit her cousin. When a problem arises at the time that Mary and Elizabeth lived, women looked to men to solve their problems. Not so Mary! Mary and Elizabeth look for support in each other. Elizabeth is eager for companionship. As mentioned earlier, she has been living with her husband who has not been able to speak for months! So, of course, Mary and Elizabeth are excited to see each other! They are not only cousins; more importantly, they have become friends! Elizabeth is a second self to Mary. She listens to Mary. She understands what Mary is experiencing. Real friends are simply there for each other, no matter the pressure, no matter the pain.
 
    Both Mary and Elizabeth will give birth in a few months. We might say that they are giving birth ”despite the odds”--the odds of an elderly woman and the odds of a teenage pregnant woman. This account of Scripture leads us to remember all the mothers in our world today who give birth despite the odds: all of those mothers in war-torn countries who are malnourished and give birth; mothers who give birth to children with physical or mental handicaps. Indeed, these women give birth against all the odds of motherhood.
 
    Mary and Elizabeth know that their sons will bring about God’s will in the world even though they don’t know how. At this point in their lives, these mothers don’t realize that both their sons will die in public execution.
 
    Throughout Scripture, it is rare to see women in biblical conversation. Both Mary and Elizabeth meet and affirm one another. We already know that Mary’s Magnificat is a call to all of us. Mary’s words empower us to be conscious of and pray for all those suffering from political and economic forces in their lives. We also know that because of the power of these words, the governments of Guatemala and other Latin American countries forbad the prayer of the Magnificat to be prayed in public churches in the 1980’s.
 
    Mary and Elizabeth’s visit has healed and empowered each of them. Yet, as Mary returns home, they both know that each of them faces enormous challenges. Yet, they are emboldened, confident and encouraged by each other. Their friendship has empowered them as mothers!
 
    We, too, can be empowered in our everyday lives because of our friendships. But we must also remember that friendship with another person is not a given. We must work at cultivating a friendship, be willing to be patient with another, forgive another when we are hurt, understand another’s pain and loneliness. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth reminds us of our individual responsibility of friendship with our God and with each other.
 
 
Listen to: “The Visit” on the album Loving by Sister Miriam Therese Winter
on YouTube