The Rosary and the Eucharist

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The second Joyful Mystery contains the meditation on Our Lord, Who while present in the womb of the Blessed Mother, freed St. John the Baptist in the womb of St. Elizabeth from original sin. Meditating on this mystery while reciting the Rosary will increase one's faith in the real presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

Immediately after conceiving her Son Jesus at the Annunciation, Our Lady went with haste to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month with St. John the Baptist.

The account of the visitation is recorded in St. Luke 1:41–44:

[W]hen Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

The Church teaches that it was at this moment that St. John the Baptist was freed from original sin. This blessing was actually prophesied by an angel to St. John's father, Zachary, as is recorded in St. Luke 1:15. The angel proclaimed, "For he shall be great before the Lord ... and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb."

Modern science has taken pictures of what a child looks like shortly after conception. They appear as a tiny, white flake. This is much like Our Lord looks like today in the Blessed Sacrament under the eucharistic veil or in the appearance of the Host.

We can think of Our Lady as the first tabernacle or monstrance, containing Our Lord's Real Presence. Her going to St. Elizabeth is thus the first eucharistic procession. The freeing of St. John from original sin is the first benediction ceremony, much like when the priest holds up Our Lord's Body in the monstrance at church and blesses the people with Him.

Watch the panel discuss the greatest Marian devotion in The Download—The Power of the Rosary.

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