And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
You see that Mary did not doubt but believed and therefore obtained the fruit of faith. “Blessed … are you who have believed.” But you also are blessed who have heard and believed. For a soul that has believed has both conceived and bears the Word of God and declares his works. Let the soul of Mary be in each of you, so that it magnifies the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each of you, so that it rejoices in God. She is the one mother of Christ according to the flesh, yet Christ is the Fruit of all according to faith. Every soul receives the Word of God, provided that, undefiled and unstained by vices, it guards its purity with inviolate modesty.
“And whence does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Oh! What great humility in the mind of the prophet! How true the utterance of the Lord, in which he said, “Upon whom does my spirit rest if not upon one who is humble and quiet and who trembles at my words?” As soon as Elizabeth saw the one who had come to her, she recognized that she was the mother of the Lord. But she discovered in herself no such merit by which she might have become worthy to be visited by such a guest. “Whence does this happen to me,” she asked, “that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Undoubtedly the very Spirit who conferred upon her the gift of prophecy at the same time endowed her with the favor of humility. Filled with the prophetic spirit, she understood that the mother of the Savior had drawn near to her. But being discreet in the spirit of humility, she understood that she herself was less than worthy of Mary’s coming.
And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? These are words of the greatest humility and reverence; John imitated his mother, saying when Christ came to be baptized of him, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest thou to me?"
Lord, that is God, Who is called absolutely the Lord, because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Hence it is clear—1. That the humanity of Christ was already in Christ endowed with life and united to the Word or Son of God2. That the Blessed Virgin is rightly called θεότοκος, i.e, Mother of God and not only χζιστότοκος, Mother of Christ, as Nestorius maintained3. That in Christ there are two natures, the human, for this alone could He take of His Virgin Mother; and the Divine, which the Father alone communicated to Him; but one Person, not human, but Divine. For if in Christ there had been two persons, as there are two natures, God could not properly be said to have been born of a Virgin, to have suffered...
The mother of my Lord. A proof that Christ was truly God, and the blessed Virgin Mary truly the mother of God. (Witham)
Elizabeth was a just and blessed woman; yet the excellency of the mother of God does so far surpass that of Elizabeth, and of every other woman, as the great luminary outshines the smaller stars. (St. Jerome præf. in Sophon.)
