Following the Annunciation in which the angel Gabriel came to Mary and pronounced she would become the mother of our Lord, Mary traveled from Galilee to Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth, an elderly woman, who after a lifetime with a barren womb had conceived a child. Elizabeth, whose pregnancy also followed a message from the angel Gabriel, would give birth to John the Baptist.
And while Gabriel greeted Mary with the words, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art…