The Fourth Thursday of Advent -- December 22, 2011

Luke 1:46 - 56

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.


This Song of Mary has been prayed by the Church for centuries. It is known as the Magnificat (Latin for "magnifies") and is a part of the daily prayer offered in churches, homes and monasteries in the Liturgy of the Hours (or the Divine Office, what I have described elsewhere as a kind of "touchpoint" prayer).

Two things about the prayer stand out to me today. Both speak to Mary's stance toward God.

First, with the exception of the first two lines, Mary's song was about what God does in the world. In the first two lines Mary sang, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God." That is, grammatically she is the subject of each line: "My soul glorifies" and "My spirit rejoices."

But in the rest of the song God is the subject of each statement. She witnessed to the work of God in the world. It seems like an important piece of the prayer to meditate on . . . that Mary located God at the center of life, as the initiator and sustainer of the world. God is squarely placed as the Source and Wellspring of life.

Second, notice that when Mary placed God as the subject of the goodness that breaks out in the world, she only mentioned God's goodness towards her one time. She was not fixated on "what the Lord has done for me," though she acknowledged that "the Might One has done great things for me."

Rather, Mary was busy noticing what God was doing in the world . . . among those who were powerful and proud . . . with rulers and among the humble . . . giving goodness to those who were hungry and creating hunger for goodness in those who had much . . . helping and remembering God's people.

This seems to be a radical departure from the contemporary practice of measuring God and/or spirituality by my life, my growth, my perception. So much of faith becomes egocentric, wrapped up in I, me, my and mine.

Yes, there is an inward dimension to spirituality that is necessary, but there is also the movement outward in Christian spirituality, away from self toward what God is doing in the world. Spirituality gives us eyes to see those God-fingerprints and feet to follow those God-footprints. Mary had a sensitivity to God's work, and she prayed it.

Her sight was not limited or provincial, but was much broader, much more expansive. She saw God alive and working in the world, and doing so in a way that most people missed.

Her prayer is worth spending time with these four days before Christmas.