The Visitation and the Ark of the Covenant

Saturday, December 21st Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

Today’s Gospel recounts the story of the Visitation, when Our Lady visited her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation. The passage that we hear in today’s Gospel contains beautiful significance in light of our understanding of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant, so I would like to highlight these parallels today.

Elizabeth greeted Mary with awe: “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43). This greeting echoes King David’s words upon seeing the Ark of the Covenant: “How shall the ark of the Lord come to me” (2 Kgs 6:9). Elizabeth also greeted Mary “with a loud voice,” saying, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the [F]ruit of thy womb” (Lk 1:42). This is reminiscent of the loud cry of David and the Israelites as they accompanied the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 6:15). St. John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice, which we know indicates the moment that the prophet’s soul was cleansed from Original Sin by Mary’s greeting (cf. Lk 1:44). Similarly, King David leaped and danced when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 6:16). Lastly, Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months (cf. Lk 1:56), and the Ark of the Covenant stayed in the house of Obededom for three months (cf. 2 Kgs 6:11).

The similarities between Our Lady and the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant are striking, and the connection points to important truths about Our Lord Himself. Inside the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant were manna, the miraculous bread that the Israelites ate during their wandering in the desert; the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, God’s laws written down for all men to follow; and the rod of Aaron, Moses’ brother and the first Levitical High Priest. Likewise, Mary housed within her womb the eternal Bread of Life, Who continues to give Himself to us and nourish us with His Flesh and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine. Mary also housed within her womb the incarnate logos, a Greek word that can be translated in one sense to denote “law” (we usually translate logos as “word,” but it is also accurate to translate it as “law”). This Bread of Life, the incarnate Word and Law of God, is the eternal High Priest, Whose sacrifice atoned for the sins of mankind once and for all.

Thus each aspect of the Ark of the Covenant foreshadows Our Lady and the miracle of the Incarnation, by which our redemption was born as a humble Infant. In just a few days, we shall commemorate the day on which this miraculous birth occurred. The Son of God, the incarnate Word and Law of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who came to earth to offer Himself in a perfect sacrifice to the Father and Who continues to offer the merits of this sacrifice under the appearances of bread and wine—He Himself shall be born to us, “[t]hat we, from deadly thrall [shall be] set free,” to quote a medieval Christmas hymn. May these last days of Advent be filled with joyful anticipation so that we may greet the infant King with hearts made pure, in imitation of Our Lady, the Ark of the Covenant.

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