Mary, the new ark of the covenant
There really is no passage in the entire Bible that for me forms the link between the Old and the New Testament quite so clearly as the Virgin Mary travelling to visit her cousin Elizabeth. While the encounter is in everyone's mind, especially if they pray the liturgy of the hours, because of the Magnificat, the fact that Mary travels from Nazareth to the hill country of Judah is a small detail, often read quickly but which carries with it great significance. Judah is where the ark of the covenant dwelt and Mary, in carrying the Messiah, being thus the new ark of the covenant, was travelling to the same hill country. What follows is their encounter, the baby John (the baptist) leaps in Elizabeth's womb and she exclaims "And why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" and Mary responds with her song of praise. It can sometimes be easy to forget that these two women were Israelites, that the babies they carried were Israelites and that their Go...