Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home

15 AUGUST (Lk 1,39-56)

Time is a real mystery in man’s relation with God and with himself. The eternal and timeless God works in time and with time. It is a mystery. He who is Almighty needs six cosmic days to create the visible and invisible universe. The whole history of salvation is shrouded in the mystery of time.

Noah waits for forty days before being able to leave the ark. Abraham longs for a son for more than twenty-five years. The promise delays to be passed. Jacob remains in the land of his exile for more than twenty years before returning home. Moses is called at eighty and he needs quite forty years before he leads the Lord’s people to the threshold of the Promised Land. About eighteen hundred years have gone by from Abraham to Christ. A long time, very long for men. A nothing for eternity.

The prodigal Son returns to the Father’s house after having reached the depths of misery and loneliness. Jesus begins his preaching when he was about thirty years. His ministry lasts hardly three years. Paul lives the time of persecution and then the one of conversion. Today, it is said that the Virgin Mary first goes in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth and then that she remains with her about three months. There is a time to devote to others and one to the self. A time to devote to the earth and one to devote to heaven, to God and to prayer. There is a working time but also a sacred time. A determined, just and appropriate time is also necessary so that there is understanding, acceptance and faith in the Word of the Lord. The Gospel is given when time is fulfilled. St. Paul teaches that Jesus was born in the fullness of time.

I mean that as long as the heir is not of age, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God (Gal 4,1.7).

The mystery of time in Mary’s life plays a role of primary importance: she was redeemed at the very time of her conception. She was raised to the glory of heaven in body and soul at the instant of her passing. The Lord anticipated for her the time of miracles, the time of the complete redemption, the time of her perfect glorification. She lives in time, but also before time, out of time and in the glorious eternity. It is her mystery.

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

The holiness of man is in the use of time according to the will of God. Today, man cannot be a saint because his time is all profane. The sacred time is missing in his life. The time given to the body is infinitely more than that given to the soul.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us how to live time.