Characters of Advent – Elizabeth
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John the Baptist, as we have seen, had the special mission of being the Forerunner of the Christ, ‘going ahead of the Lord to prepare his way’ (Luke 1: 76). This mission began at his very conception, when Elizabeth miraculously conceives in her old age, pointing towards the miraculous events of the Annunciation and Incarnation: indeed, the angel Gabriel uses Elizabeth’s conception as an example for Mary that ‘nothing is impossible to God’ (Luke 1: 37). Elizabeth, too, recognises that her conception is a miraculous gift of God: ‘the Lord has done this for me’ she says (Luke 1: 25). Later on, when, Mary goes to visit her, Elizabeth becomes the first to recognise, in response to the sign of the baby in her womb, the blessedness of Mary, and of the child she bears: her openness to recognising the working of God in her own life enables her to see and understand the ‘great things’ he has done for Mary (cf. Luke 1: 49)
And so Elizabeth is an example for us, too: as we prepare ourselves this Advent to receive the Christ, Elizabeth shows us that, to learn to recognise him when he comes, we must first recognise all the many things he has freely given to us. Then, just as Elizabeth recognised the Christ through the kicking of John the Baptist, God’s gift to her, in her womb, we too may come, through God’s gifts to us, especially of his Word and his Sacraments, to know Christ, the greatest gift and the consummation of them all.
