My soul magnifies the Lord

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Magnificat

The Monks of Glenstal Abbey

Today is Sunday the 16th of August, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, beginning the 20th week of Ordinary Time.

Nóirín Ní Riain sings the Magnificat, the song of Mary: “My soul glorifies the Lord. My Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. He looks on his servant in her lowliness. Henceforth, all ages will call me blessed.” As I listen, can I sense the Lord looking on me in my lowliness, and can I rejoice in him and in all that he does for me?

3:39

Today’s reading is from Gospel of Luke.

Luke 1:39-56

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

6:44

luna

Mary is the archetypal disciple in whom we see all that we can become through the power of God, despite our human doubts and weakness. She questions the angel at the Annunciation, and questions again when her son goes missing in the Temple: How can this be? Why have you done this? Elizabeth's greeting today meets not a serene, untroubled figure but a young woman who asks awkward questions, walking by faith and not by sight. Where does your own faith look more like Mary's questioning than like certainty? Can you let that be enough?

Jesus does not single his mother out for her biological role, but honours her as one who hears God's word and brings it to life. In the Magnificat, Mary takes the word she has received and lets it become a song that overturns the proud, lifts the lowly, fills the hungry. Where is God's word asking to take flesh in your own life at the moment, rather than remaining only an idea you hold?

Listen again to the Magnificat itself, and notice where Mary's words become, for a moment, a prayer that you might make your own.

9:50

Luke 1:39-56

And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

11:32

Orthodox icons of the Assumption, known as the Dormition, show Jesus cradling his mother’s body and soul, wrapped in a shroud, as she is born into everlasting life. They echo the Nativity icons in which Mary cradles him. Together the icons say that all human experience, body and soul, doubt and question included, is destined for glory through God’s saving power. Can you entrust your whole self, body and soul, faith and doubt together, into God’s hands?

13:45

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen