Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Elizabeth Kirkland CahillDecember 12, 2015

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

~ Luke 1.41

I will never forget the 10-week ultrasound for my fourth child (now, alas, a teenager). As Fred the technician zeroed in on the tiny fetal image, I saw the baby moving with impossible exuberance. “Look—that baby’s doing the mambo,” the technician chuckled. For the three of us—Fred, my husband and me—it was a moment of pure joy.

I like to think of Elizabeth’s unborn baby, the future prophet John the Baptist, dancing with a like delight in today’s Gospel of the Visitation. The infant “leaped” for joy, Luke tells us, using a Greek verb that designates not garden-variety jumping, but the exuberant springing of a young lamb, as in Psalm 114: The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. The joy of encounter with Christ is contagious. It starts with the unborn John and spreads to Elizabeth, who is “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Elizabeth’s joyful embrace of her young cousin in turn sparks Mary’s rejoicing, as her soul proclaims the grandeur of God.

So it is with us. When Christ truly indwells in our hearts, we cannot help but communicate our joy to others. The 16th-century English scholar and biblical translator William Tyndale vividly described the human response to the Word: “Evangelion (that we call gospel) is a Greek word, and signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy.” As Christmas draws near, let us sing, dance and skip like lambs as we share with others the good news of Christ’s coming.

LORD of all created things, Fill me with the joy of your loving presence so that I may spread it in turn to others.  Amen.

For today’s readings, click here.

You can access the complete collection of the Advent 2015 Reflection Series here.

If you would like to receive these reflections via a daily e-mail, contact Elizabeth Kirkland Cahill at ecahill27@yahoo.com.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
William Rydberg
9 years 6 months ago
Its been 2 weeks, but not a word yet about Jesus-God come in the flesh anticipated 2nd coming. The daily liturgies are replete with references. Why no mention of God's final return, its all in the scriptural, holy tradition, and magisterial apostolic revelation?
Bill Moynihan
9 years 6 months ago
This is beautiful! Thank you.

The latest from america

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfill our mission for God’s people.