One of the images of Advent which is often bypassed is that of the pregnancy itself. Often in the Advent narrative the pregnancy features only in its final stages as Mary gives birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, having travelled a great distance fully pregnant.

Overlooking the pregnancy is to overlook one of the most wonderful and beautiful parts of the story – that of the womb. In Luke’s gospel we discover an amazing story where Mary, having consented to the Holy Spirit conceiving Jesus in her womb, goes to visit her aunt Elizabeth who is also pregnant through a miraculous gift. The stand out part of this story is what happens in the womb. In a world without ultrasound scans we get an insight into what is going on inside two wombs.
“41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:41-44 ESV)

There is a mysterious communication which takes place so that John, in Elizabeth’s womb, is aware of Jesus in Mary’s womb and leaps for joy!
That joyful leaping in the womb also causes the Holy Spirit to fill Elizabeth so she can speak those beautiful, poetic, prophetic words.
Elizabeth’s awareness of the unexpected miracle of Mary, a girl, being pregnant with the Messiah comes from her womb through one of the most natural acts during a pregnancy, a baby leaping in the womb.

Not all of us have wombs (I checked with a Dr to verify this!) and not all of those who have wombs have experienced pregnancy, but there is in all of us a kind of ‘womb’ in our souls which is a place of nurturing, a space for growth, where God comes to inhabit as a new life within us. Like Elizabeth, when Jesus comes near to us we experience a kind of ‘leaping’ in our ‘wombs’ of exciting expectation that Jesus is coming.

This Advent may we be like Elizabeth and experience the overwhelming response in our ‘womb’ of Jesus coming near.
May we be filled by the Holy Spirit and hear Elizabeth’s words speaking to us as we reflect that Christ is in us, the hope of glory – “blessed is the fruit of your ‘womb'”.
May our souls be a welcoming place for the indwelling of God and may we be enlarged in the waiting this Advent.