Antiphona 2

Luke 1:42 records Elizabeth's Spirit-filled exclamation at the Visitation. The double 'benedicta/benedictus' (blessed) connects Mary's blessedness to her Son's - she is blessed precisely because of whom she bears. The phrase 'fructus ventris tui' (fruit of thy womb) employs agricultural imagery for conception, also used in Psalm 126:3. Elizabeth spoke 'in voce magna' (with a loud cry) - prophetic utterance, not ordinary speech. At Lauds, as dawn breaks, this antiphon recalls that Elizabeth's greeting came when Mary arrived 'with haste' in the hill country - the Church too hastens to greet Mary each morning.