Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Raymund Festin SVD, Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
December 22 – Advent
Mary’s Magnificat is a prayer, a poem, a psalm, and a paean—rolled into one.
It also tells a story. It tells of the God who exalts the humble, the God who is merciful. It is a story of the storyteller herself, for it recounts how a lowly maidservant was raised to the highest honor of being the Mother of God.
Most lovely, most humble, most holy, most gentle, most loving—all these attributes rightly belong to her.
She is also the most blessed of all. The Angel Gabriel said it. Elizabeth pronounced it. Now, Mary herself confirms it: “All generations will call me blessed.”
Why blessed? Because the Lord is with her, as Gabriel said. That is why the measure of grace is filled up to the brim. Mary wants nothing. She has Jesus. Jesus is more than enough.
She carried Him for nine months in her womb, gave birth to Him, nursed him in her bosom, cooked for Him, clothed Him, taught Him, and lived with him for years.
No one knows Jesus as much as she does. And no one else is as close to Jesus as she is.
One wonders how many secret things she knew about Jesus. Certainly, she had a lot of these treasures. For she experienced the joy no one else knew—the joy of being with Jesus for the longest time.
Because of this singular joy, Mary must have recited the Magnificat throughout her life—in moments of solitude and prayer. Her lips must have uttered praises to God a million times over: “My soul magnifies the Lord, My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”
Perhaps, she even sang her Magnificat on the way to Calvary as she accompanied her Son. For the Magnificat is not only a song of praise uttered in a moment of deepest joy. It is also a canticle of faith expressed in a moment of deepest sorrow.
Even as she watched her Son suffer and die, Mary knew deep in her heart that God’s promise was being fulfilled.
That is the deeper meaning of her Magnificat.
One comment