Luke 1:

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
42 Cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43 And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Yesterday, I was praying the rosary, and got to the visitation. I was listening to one of the CDs in the car, so they were reading a bit for each mystery, and talked about how John “jumped for joy.” I don’t know why, but I’ve always found this a bit … not odd, not unsettling, not disturbing, but … something….

[See, I don’t run into this all that often, because I don’t pray the Joyful mysteries all that often…. The Sorrowful mysteries are the only ones I know on my own, so I pray these a lot…. LOL!]

This was irritating me, that I didn’t know why it was bothering me. I suppose I still don’t really know why it bothers me. Perhaps just the phrase. Maybe because I see John as a man and have difficulty picturing a man “jumping for joy” — even if it might be an appropriate reaction for a little boy.

Why wasn’t Elizabeth “jumping for joy”?

Then, I had a thought. [Scary, right? :)]

Perhaps this was something particular to John. Certainly, Elizabeth was excited and joyful about the presence of the Lord, but there was something … more … to John’s reaction.

Perhaps it has to do with the joy and excitement you get when you realize your vocation. That THIS is what I was made for. 🙂 And maybe that’s why he wore the hair shirt and ate locusts…to balance out the fact that HE was chosen to be the Lord’s personal herald. [Instead of doing the Happy Dance and shouting, “He picked ME! He picked ME!”]