Mary's canticle, the Magnificat

Elizabeth and Mary must have had a very close relationship because Mary, when she realized she was pregnant, took the dangerous trip from Nazareth to a town near Jerusalem to share the good news with her cousin. I say dangerous because in those days a young woman on the road alone (so it appears) for three to four days would be fortunate to escape the attention of men with something quite evil on the minds. Zechariah, the priest and Joseph the carpenter were the two husbands. Some four months later Elizabeth would give birth to John the Baptizer so it appears that he was about six months old when his second cousin Jesus was born.
       When Elizabeth learned that her cousin was with child, the son in her own womb leaped for joy. To her excited words of honor and respect, Mary’s responded with the celebrated lines we now call the Magnificat.  It is Hebrew poetry at its best, beginning with a striking parallelism:
          “My soul exalts the Lord,
           My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (vv. 46,47)
In the lines that follow, Mary praises God for the honor he has bestowed on her, a “lowly servant girl” (v. 48). There is something so powerful about humility. It creates a setting in which those who observe it in another are reminded so forcefully of their own resistance against the challenge of denying self. From that point on Mary will be called “blessed” for the wonderful things the Mighty One has done for her (v. 49).
       Let’s think together about these “wonderful things.”  For generation after generation, God will “show compassion to those who revere him” (v. 50). When we reflect on the loving heart of God we realize that compassion is the one virtue that best describes who this awesome Deity really is – He is love. When you repeat those words they begin to take on a voice of their own. Let compassion be the quality that transforms our lives.
       In summary form, Mary marvels at God’s “powerful arm,” with which he “scatters the arrogant” and removes the mighty from their high positions. No longer can they abuse their people with the unrestricted use of power (vv. 51, 52). On the other hand, God will “exalt those of low estate,” “satisfy the hungry with good things,”  “come to the help of his people,” and be “merciful to them forever” (vv. 53-55).
       I image that throughout the following three months when Mary returned to Nazareth, she and Elizabeth had many opportunities to celebrate the God so revered and honored in the Magnificat – an honorable custom for all who belong to the one and same family in the Lord. May the current tendency to adjust to the common culture of the day not deprive us of the ability to honor God with a reverence appropriate for the One he really is.