First Vespers of the Visitation

May 30 – First Vespers of The Visitation –

After the Annunciation, Mary went to Hebron to visit her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth greets Mary “Hail, Mary, full of grace. Blessed are you among women.” Mary replies with the Magnificat, sung every day at Vespers in our Church of the Visitation. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed;
For the mighty one has done great things to me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the holy;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever.
for he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed; for the mighty one has done great things to me, and holy is his name.”