Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
We tend to like processions. They help make events extraordinary and special. King Charles processed into Westminster Abbey for his coronation, and many people followed it on television.
David, the great king of Jerusalem, led a procession into his capital city for the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark contained the Word of God spoken and engraved on the mountain for Moses. It was a solemn and joyful celebration with dancing, music and song, something like a ticker-tape parade we have had for returning heroes. David led his parade-like procession to bring the Word of God into the holy city of Jerusalem.
Imagine a joyful procession from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea. It would be far from an ordinary procession. It would be wildly joyful as God in the living flesh comes down to earth in the womb of a woman. What we have described is not a procession for Mary. Rather it is a procession for the Son she is carrying in her womb. It is this Son, this Word of God, for whom we celebrate as Mary goes with haste, energetically, as one on a mission she delights to undertake.
David had his procession with the Ark of the Covenant, but the Ark held only tablets of stone. Mary goes in haste as the new Ark of the Covenant¸ carrying in her flesh the Word of God made flesh and dwelling among us. In this celebration, we should experience God visiting his people.
The Scriptures tell us more about God’s visiting us than they do about Mary. Our lives are supposed to say more about God than about ourselves. Our lives do this when we are Arks of covenant, joyfully bringing God into the lives of God’s people.
God is always visiting God’s people. God uses us to make God’s presence known to others. If Mary went joyfully, with haste, then we must imitate her presence as the Ark of the Covenant. We must make haste, joyfully bringing the Word of God among the people of God, wherever we are or are going.