Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Those words of our Lord in the sermon of the mountain, the beatitudes.

And we know our lady declares in the magnificat,

all generations will call me blessed.

Blessed is marrying because she mourns, for she shall be comforting.

You know, normally we don't think of someone who is mourning as blessed.

Just doesn't kind of seem to go together.

But it can. And I think our Lord wants us to understand that if we mourn with love, we will be blessed. And our lady shows us the way. Certainly at the

Annunciation Mary was filled with great joy. The angel declared to her

that you shall bear a son and he shall be called Jesus. He will be great, he will be called the Son of the Most High,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of Father David,

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

Mary knew the prophecies

and the greatness of the Messiah was certainly something to be hoped for

and that now she was the mother of the Messiah dwelling in her womb and this filled her with joy.

That joy that she brought with her when she visited her cousin Elizabeth and broke out into the magnificots my soul magnifies the Lord

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he is regarded the lowliness of his handmaid.

Henceforth, all generations will call me blessed.

For the Almighty has done great things in me, and holy is his name.

But I imagine the conversation between Elizabeth and Mary continued.

And maybe most likely Zachary, Elizabeth's husband, also participated, even though he couldn't speak. Mary must have approached him,

knowing that he was very knowledgeable of the scriptures. So what does the scripture say about the

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