Then she said: Blest are you, my Lady, who believed; and moreover, blest are you above all women. [Lk. 1:45, 42]. We see by this in what degree she received the gift of prophecy, for she speaks of things past, present and future. "Blest are you who believed all that the angel told you, because you have shown thereby that you have greater faith than Abraham [Cf. Gen. 17:17]. You have believed that the virgin and the barren would conceive, which is something that exceeds the course of nature." See what she knows of the past, through the spirit of prophecy. Regarding what is to come, she sees by this same spirit that the Virgin will be blest among all women, and she proclaims it. She speaks also of the present, calling her "Mother of God." Again, she adds that the child which she bears leapt for joy at her arrival.
It is, indeed, no wonder that St. John leapt for joy at the coming of his Saviour, since Our Lord said, speaking to the Jews; Your father Abraham rejoiced when, with the eyes of prophecy, he saw My day come, which you now see. [Jn. 8:56]. And if all the prophets desired the Messiah promised in the Law and rejoiced because they knew that all would be fulfilled in His day, how much more should we think that St. John was filled with gladness when he saw from his mother's womb the true promised Messiah, the Desired of the patriarchs [Agg. 2:8, Douay], who had come to visit him in order to begin in him the work of our Redemption by freeing him from the stain of Original Sin!
Oh, my very dear Sisters, how you should be overwhelmed with joy when you are visited by this Divine Saviour in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and by the interior graces which you receive daily from His Divine Majesty through the many inspirations and words which He speaks to your hearts. For He is ever near them, knocking, and speaking to you [Rev. 3:20] of what He desires you to do for His love. Ah! What thanksgiving you owe to this Lord for so many favors! With what careful attention you should listen to Him, and how faithfully and promptly you should do His divine will!
The most holy Virgin, hearing what her kinswoman Elizabeth said in her praise, humbled herself and referred all the glory to God. Then declaring that all her happiness, as I said, came from the fact that He had looked upon His servant in her lowliness, she entoned that beautiful and wonderful canticle, the Magnificat [Lk. 1:46-55], a canticle surpassing all those which had been sung by other women: It was more excellent than that of Judith [Jud. 16:1-17], more beautiful beyond compare than the one which the sister of Moses sang after the children of Israel had passed through the Red Sea and Pharaoh and the Egyptians had been swallowed up in its waters [Ex. 15:1-21]. It was, in short, more beautiful than that sung by Simeon [Lk. 2:29-32] or any others of which Scripture makes mention.
0 my dear Sisters, you who claim this Virgin for your Mother, daughters of the Visitation of Our Lady and of St, Elizabeth, what zeal you should have in imitating her, especially her charity and humility, which were the chief virtues which urged her to make this visitation.[5] You should therefore be particularly distinguished in their practice, which will move you to go with haste and joy to visit your sick sisters, cordially helping and serving one another in your infirmities, whether they be spiritual or corporal. And whenever there is an opportunity of practicing humility and charity you ought to do so with a special care and promptness; because, you see, to be a daughter of Our Lady it is not enough to rest content with living in a convent of the Visitation and wearing the religious veil. This would be wronging such a Mother; to be satisfied with this would be to degenerate. You must imitate her holiness and her virtues.
Oh, then, my dear Sisters, be most careful to model your lives on hers: Be meek, humble, charitable and kind, and magnify the Lord with her during this life. And if you do so humbly and faithfully in this world, you will undoubtedly sing the Magnificat in Heaven, with the Virgin herself; and praising the Divine Majesty by means of this sacred canticle, you will be blessed by Him for all eternity, to which the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are leading us. Amen.
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[1] St. Francis is using another version of the Song of Songs here. The Annecy edition has "Hebrew, Syrian, Arabic" in the margin.
[2] St. Francis de Sales is following the New Testament's lead in seeing this psalm as applying to Jesus, the Messiah, in His sufferings for our salvation.
[3] St. Francis is alluding to the condition of Original Sin.
[4] 2 Kgs. 4-.1-7; cf. a similar incident in Elijah's life in 1 Kgs. 17:10-16.
[5] St. Francis is deliberately using the word "visitation" rather than "visit" in deference to his congregation, the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, which was named after this event in the Gospel.