The Visitation

Catholic presentation

The second joyful mystery

So how many people do you count in this scene here?  I make it 7.

Lets start with the two in the foreground.  The two 'miraculous mothers' meet for the first time since each of them fell pregnant.  Mary on the left, carries Jesus, who makes three.  Unusually the artist has portrayed Joseph (four) in the same scene, accompanying Mary and Jesus.  The Bible doesn't say he was there, nor that he wasn't so I guess there's some freedom of interpretation here.

Elizabeth on the right is 6 months more advanced in her pregnancy, she carries John, later to be known as 'The Baptist'.  John raises the count to five.  Elizabeth hasn't really been able to share with people the depth of what has happened to her.  She can't even discuss things with her husband (shown here standing behind her and raising the count to six).  She can't discuss things with him, becuase the very events that she needs to talk about, have made him 'miraculously' unable to speak at all!  All they can do, is exchange meaningful looks.

Notably, before the two mothers get their first chance to speak, the two unborn children communicate first.

Mary's baby is fully God, and radiates His divine presence through the Holy Spirit to John.  As Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit John reacts with delight at this baptism.  Elizabeth excitedly tells Mary about the baby's reaction..

Luke 1:44 For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.

And that's the moment that the artist captured here.  Elizabeth is bending - reacting to the leaping John, and perhaps bowing to her younger cousin Mary, as the text explains: 

Luke 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby jumped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “How blessed are you among women, and how blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43 Why should this happen to me, to have the mother of my Lord visit me!

So the seventh person in this scene is the Holy Spirit!  I cheated slightly, suggesting there were seven people, I should have said seven persons!  Seven persons, in one extended family.  Why do you think God choose John to be related to Jesus?  My best bet is that He finds it more effective to work with families.  Families serve His purposes well.  What do you think?