Mary Visits Elizabeth and the Birth of John

Mary rises and goes with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, to the house of Zechariah. As soon as Elizabeth hears her greeting, the babe leaps in her womb, and she cries out, filled with the Holy Spirit: “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Mary answers with a song: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” She stays about three months and then returns home. Elizabeth gives birth to a son. On the eighth day, the neighbors want to name him Zechariah, but his mother says, “He shall be called John.” Zechariah, still unable to speak, asks for a writing tablet and writes, “His name is John.” At that moment his mouth is opened: he blesses God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and announces that his son will be the prophet of the Highest and will prepare the ways of the Lord.