Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste to visit with her cousin Elizabeth. After the angel Gabriel had departed, Mary must have buried her face into her hands even as she tried to come to terms with everything the angel had said. Was it true that she was going to be the mother of the Savior? Had the Lord chosen her for such a special role? If the Lord had willed it, it was true. Wasn’t the Lord known to make a way even when there seems to be no way (cf. Isaiah 43: 16-19)? 
It did not take long for Mary to assume her new role as a vehicle of God’s grace. The news about her kinswoman Elizabeth being with child excited her. She felt in her being that she had to go and share in Elizabeth’s joy. When Mary arrived at the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, somehow having known about Mary’s new status, greeted her with the title ‘blessed.’ But unlike her reaction when the angel Gabriel had used the same title to greet her, Mary allowed Elizabeth to regale her. According to Elizabeth, Mary was blessed because ‘ she had believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ While it might be obvious that Elizabeth was referring to Mary’s saying YES to the Lord (I am your handmaid, may it be done to me according to your will), perhaps Elizabeth was also referring to the second instance when Mary believed in the Lord’s words coming to fulfillment. 
When Mary heard about the Lord’s favor coming upon her cousin Elizabeth, she set out in haste in order to go and be with her. For a while, she forgot about herself. She forgot about her own safety as she traversed the hilly countryside on her own to go and share in the joy of her cousin. She had to see her in the flesh and congratulate her. She was happy for her. Although Mary knew that her cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah were well beyond child-bearing years, she also knew that  nothing was impossible for God. And she believed in what the Lord had relayed to her through the angel. She believed that the Lord had visited Elizabeth to take away her shame. It is this that makes Mary blessed among men and women. It is this that raised Mary above the rest of creation and put her on a pedestal. She not only believed in the Lord favoring another person, but she was also able to share in somebody else’s joy.