I remember when Brenda was pregnant with each of our four kids, how she would often talk with other women who were also pregnant. There’s a bond that forms between mothers. Only they understand what it’s like to carry a living being within themselves. Only they understand the cravings, the anxieties, the joys. They learn from each other, commiserate with each other, reassure each other. And that bond doesn’t end after the babies are born. It continues as the children get their first teeth, get out of diapers, start school, make their first communion, go on their first date, get their first job, get married, and have children of their own. As we stand on the threshold of Christmas, the Scriptures present us with a meeting between two expectant women. Like all mothers, they share a common bond. But they’re also connected in several unique ways. One of these women is too old to be pregnant, the other is too young. Their sons will grow up at the same time, they will speak God’s word, and they will both be killed. The younger woman, Mary, has traveled in haste, eager to see her older relative Elizabeth. What happens when they meet is an important example for all of us in these last days of preparation before Christmas. But before we get to that, it is important to understand who Elizabeth is. She is a faithful Israelite, descended from Moses’ brother Aaron. Her husband is Zechariah, a priest from the division of Abijah. He and Elizabeth are both “advanced in years.” And like other significant Israelite women of the past— Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah— Elizabeth is barren. She hasn’t been able to have children. But despite their age, Elizabeth and Zechariah have continued to pray for a child, until one day, when Zechariah is serving his turn as priest, an angel of the Lord tells him that their prayers have been answered. They’re going to have a son. Elizabeth and Zechariah represent Israel’s faithfulness. After years of not getting what they wanted, they still had hope. Their struggles and difficulties have given them a mature faith. It is not perfect faith—Zechariah at first doubted the angel’s message. But it is a mature faith. In his book Sacred Fire, Fr. Ron Rolheiser describes the mark of a mature Christian. He says there are many signs of what it means to be a mature disciple, but in order to understand mature faith concretely, he takes the image of blessing as the mark of a deeply mature disciple of Jesus. The mature Christian, he says, blesses others and blesses the world, just as God does and Jesus did. And now as we turn to the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary, we can see the important example it is for all of us. Because this is exactly what Elizabeth does when she meets Mary. “Blessed are you,” she says, “and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Elizabeth blesses Mary. But this incident is more than an older woman blessing a younger woman. This is the Old Covenant blessing the New Covenant. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and their son John the Baptist represent the mature faith of Israel, a faith that has been tested through the centuries. The chosen people have undergone slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon,