Rejoice in the Lord your God. Give thanks to Him for all His gifts and benefits, and praise His Holy Name. Sing to Him with peace and joy and gladness all your days. Glorify and honor Him, worship and adore Him with heart, mind, body, and soul, because He has had mercy upon you.
The Lord your God, the holy and almighty One, here comes to visit and abide with you in love. As He once dwelt among His people Israel with His grace and His glory — by the way and means of His Tabernacle in the wilderness, and then within His Temple in Jerusalem — in the Ark of the Covenant and upon the Mercy Seat — so does the same Lord, Yahweh Sabaoth, now come to you and tabernacle with you in His own Body of flesh and blood, conceived within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Word and Spirit of God, in order to be your Savior and your God.
He comes by His Word and with His Holy Spirit, with all His grace and glory, in His true divinity and His true humanity, in both body and soul, hidden within the womb of His Church on earth. And by His coming and His presence, by His gracious visitation, this house made with human hands is a priestly house, where you are met by God, and sanctified, and given life with Him.
The incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, comes to be with you, in order to bring you to His God and Father in and with Himself. That is the goal and purpose for which He has created and redeemed you, and for which the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you — and the whole Christian Church on earth — by the Ministry of the Gospel of the same Lord Jesus Christ.
By His mighty arm and outstretched hand He raises you up from poverty and weakness to wealth and strength, from humility and shame to glory and honor, from hunger and fear to contentment and full satisfaction, and from weariness and sorrow to perfect peace and Sabbath rest in Him.
The same Lord Jesus Christ defeats all your enemies and defends you from them. He rescues you from every evil and brings you out of danger into eternal safety and security within the Kingdom of God. He does not accuse you and condemn you, but He freely and fully forgives all your sins. He does not punish or destroy you, as you have deserved, but He delivers you from out of death and raises you up from the dust of the earth in glory. He recreates you in His Image for newness of life with Him, not only in your soul and spirit, but in your body, also, just like His own.
In Christ Jesus you are anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit, and you are bound to God the Father — as He is bound to you — by an everlasting Covenant, in a divine and holy Communion.
So it is that God, the Father Almighty, has spoken to you by His Son; and in remembrance of this mercy, He acts to do all of these good things for you, and to give you all of these great things in the Body of His Christ, conceived and born of St. Mary. The One who promises is faithful, and He will do it. Blessed are you, therefore, when you trust and rely upon His sure and certain Word.
It is by faith in His Word — by the Sound of His Voice — by the preaching of Christ Jesus — and not yet by sight or experience — that you are blessed by the presence of Christ and made brand new in Him. So it was for St. Mary and St. Elizabeth, and so it is for the whole Church on earth.
You do not yet see the fulfillment with your eyes. You can’t investigate it with your hands, in such a way the you could prove it. You rather hear the promise with your ears, and it is by that promise that you live in hope and eager expectation. With anxious longing you wait for the revealing of the sons of God, when you shall see your dear Lord Jesus face to face, and you shall be like Him.
For now, to be sure, you do not yet feel or experience the Resurrection. You bear and suffer the Cross, within and without. Poverty, hunger, weakness, and fear persist in this fallen world, in your own body and life and in your neighbors all around. There are still tyrants on earth at every level, who rule with an iron fist and deal unjustly with those who languish under their abusive power. The wicked still prosper, with impunity, while the righteous are persecuted and put to death.
Along with all of that, sin and death are still at work within you, in your mortal flesh and blood, and in your heart and mind, as well. Your faith and love are not what they should be. You doubt the Lord your God and the Word He has spoken. You do not trust His promises, nor do you expect Him to do you any good. You hurt and neglect the very people you should help and care for. You are arrogant when you ought to be humble, and you despair when you ought to rejoice in hope.
Even so, do not wallow in self-pity, nor defend yourself in self-righteous pride, but repent, trust Christ, and live. Do not be afraid of anything, but fear the Lord your God, and have no other gods before Him. For He is with you. Behold, He comes to visit you in His justice and righteousness.
Repent of your sins, therefore, and rejoice in His great and free Salvation. For His coming does not depend on you, nor is it met with any worthiness of your own, but He visits you by grace, and He forgives your sins and gives you His Life according to His tender mercy and compassion.
In all events, He is here with you in this place, and that is most certainly true.
The Holy Triune God remembers His mercy and His faithfulness, and He fulfills His Word, in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son. For He has permanently bound Himself to you, already by His conception in the womb of St. Mary. Flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood, He does not deny or disown you, but He rejoices to call you His own kin, and He defends you.
He is not ashamed to call you His brother or sister, for He has atoned for all your sins, redeemed you from death, and justified you in His Resurrection. He ever lives to make intercession for you as your merciful High Priest. He sanctifies your body and soul by His Spirit through the Gospel.
If what you see and feel and experience in the here and now is the Cross and suffering, temptation, sin, and death, remember that He has taken all of that upon Himself and borne it in His own Body on your behalf, proceeding in faith and love, in humility and perfect obedience, even unto death. Wherefore God, His Father, has raised Him from the dead and highly exalted Him. And that which He has done for you, accomplished and received on your behalf, is now pledged and given to you.
So it is that His preaching of repentance wounds you, in order to heal you. His Word and Spirit crucify and bury you, in order to raise you up and make you alive in Him. He not only exposes and condemns your sins for what they are, but He calls you to faith in His forgiveness of all your sins. He puts to death the old Adam in you, in order to make of you a brand new man or woman; no less than He made of St. Mary a New Eve, and He Himself became a new and better Adam for us all.
This Lord Jesus Christ — with His mighty arm, with His great things and holy Name — is found here in this place where His Word has directed you. Arise, and come in a hurry to find Him here within His priestly house. Receive His gracious hospitality in the Liturgy of His Gospel, in the preaching of His Word and the celebration of His Holy Supper. And give thanks for your fathers and mothers of faith, who are righteous in Christ Jesus and live in His Love to the glory of God.
The holiness of His Name is thereby demonstrated and bestowed upon you here, as He visits you in His divine grace, tender mercies, and perfect peace. For those whom He calls and sends to go before His face — like St. John the Baptist, even from his mother’s womb — those men likewise announce the presence of the Lord and rejoice in Him by way of His Gospel; whereby you also, like St. Elizabeth, are filled with the Holy Spirit and rejoice in the Life and Salvation of Jesus.
Hidden here in the womb of His Church, the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God — conceived and born of St. Mary, crucified and risen from the dead — His Body and His Blood are here given and poured out for you to eat and to drink in the remembrance of His mercy. For so does He fill the hungry with good things, and so does He feed you with these great things, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in and with Him.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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