Blessed are You Among Women

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, 
“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.”

We heard this gospel on Sunday.

On Sunday, my pastor pointed out that only two women, besides the Virgin Mary, get told “Blessed are you among women.” One is Jael and the other is Judith.

He said this in an awkward voice, as if he didn’t know what to make of it.

As for me, my imagination came alive. I talked it over with Michael as I drove him home after Mass; his imagination had come alive as well. It’s the best new way of meditating on the Mystery of the Visitation I’ve heard in a long time.

Jael became a hero when Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was judging Israel.

Lappidoth is not important to the story. Lappidoth barely gets named at all; it’s Deborah who was in charge. She was sitting under her terebinth, commanding armies, because the people of Israel were in danger of being slaughtered. She told the general Barak to go and strike Sisera and his marauding army. Barak didn’t flat out refuse to go, but he balked. He said he wouldn’t go if Deborah didn’t come along to babysit. And Deborah prophesied that because of his balking, Sisera would not fall at his hands, but at those of a woman.

Sure enough, Barak took his army out and won the day, but Sisera survived. He ran for his life until he got to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, thinking he’d be safe because Heber was an ally. Again, Heber is not important. The story is about Jael. Jael seduced Sisera and welcomed into her tent. She gave him a drink and waited until he was asleep. And then she crushed his head with a tent peg.

And the prophetess, Deborah, sang Jael’s praises. “Most blessed among women be Jael.”

Judith was like Jael. She’s the star of the story. She was the wife of Manasseh, who died of sunstroke, but Mannaseh is not important. What’s important is what Judith did, three years and four months after he died.

The marauder, Holofernes, was going to conquer their town or else slaughter and plunder anyone who resisted. The governor of the town hadn’t exactly surrendered to him, yet. But he had balked, and sworn that they’d hand the town over if God did not intervene within five days. Judith rebuked them, and then she went to dress up. She walked straight into the enemy camp, bringing her maid as a chaperone. She followed Holofernes into his tent, and waited until he’d drunk himself to sleep. And then she took his sword, and sliced off his head.

The army of Holofernes fled in disarray; Israel pursued them, cutting them down and looting their bodies for wealth. The women sang and danced in honor of Judith.

And Uzziah, the governor, said to Judith, “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the leader of our enemies.”

Now, here comes Miriam, the most important woman of all.

Miriam was betrothed to a man called Joseph,  a simple carpenter who doesn’t open his trap once in all four Gospels.  She was hurrying to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah the priest.

You’d think Zechariah was an important person, but the Angel of the Lord didn’t think so. The Lord sent the Angel Gabriel, who didn’t greet Zechariah with an Ave but got straight to the point. He told Zechariah that his elderly wife was about to get pregnant. Zechariah didn’t exactly disbelieve the angel, but he balked. He asked how this was supposed to happen, because Elizabeth was old. For this, the angel cursed Zechariah to be mute until after the baby was born. Then that same angel went to Miriam, saluted her as he would a queen, told her God’s plan, and politely answered her questions.

Miriam gave her consent.

She welcomed the Lord inside.

The sole-begotten Son of God was already present in her, because God is everywhere present and filling all things. But at that moment, God became present in a different way. He was not an enemy coming to destroy, but a redeemer coming to bind up what was broken, and he refused to break her. He became incarnate, her true son, without sex, without penetration, just becoming truly human inside her.

At that moment, the battle was won.

It would be won in a different way in Bethlehem, and again on Calvary, and again on the third day at the empty tomb. It will be won again when Christ comes to judge the living and the dead. But it was also won there, with her “let it be done to me according to your word,” and with the Word of God becoming Man without fighting. We would not be destroyed by the Enemy. The Enemy’s head was crushed by the heel of Miriam, by her Fiat.

And immediately, Miriam ran to visit Elizabeth.

Elizabeth felt her own baby leap in her womb, and she prophesied like Deborah. “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.”

Miriam began to prophesy as well. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Most blessed among women be Miriam, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided her blow at the head of the leader of our enemies.

The comparison isn’t awkward at all.