Editorial: The Magnificat

The Magnificat

P reachers and writers in the Church have pointed out, over the centuries, that our Blessed Lady doesn’t really have too much to say in the Scripture accounts of the story of our Redemption.

A sentence here, two sentences there, and that seems to sum up the extent of her communication with others.

At the Annunciation she asked the angel Gabriel; “How shall this be since I do not know man”?  She followed that question with a statement.  “Be it done unto me according to thy word”.  With one important exception (which we shall consider in a moment), she says nothing more until twelve years later when she and St. Joseph find the Child Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem.

Only a Few Sentences

Another seventeen or eighteen years go by before she utters two short sentences at the marriage feast of Cana. “They have no wine,” and “Do whatever He tells you.”

There is nothing in the New Testament of what she might have said during the public life of her Son; nothing even when she stood at the foot of the Cross on Calvary. Not a word at the Resurrection or Ascension; and not a word in the upper room where she and the disciples were awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  It would seem as if the writers of Scripture wanted to keep her in the background as much as possible.

Scripture Does Not Record Everything

We are speaking here, of course, of what is put down in the New Testament record; the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the different epistles. This record does not tell us of everything that was said and done, even by Christ Himself; “There are many other things,” says St. John, “that Jesus said and did that are not written in this book”. And what is true of Christ Our Lord is true also of His Mother and the followers of Christ. Certainly, they all spoke to each other. But not everything is recorded.

But, as was mentioned above, there is one important exception. One exception to this General rule of Our Lady’s terseness in the Scriptures; the one time when she expands on her thoughts and feelings in the beautiful canticle known as “The Magnificat”. This took place on the occasion of her visit to her cousin St. Elizabeth, shortly after the Annunciation.

One Important Exception: The Magnificat

The angel had told her of St. Elizabeth’s pregnancy as a sign that “nothing is impossible with God”. St. Luke tells the story; “Mary rose up and went with all haste to a town of Juda, in the hill country where Zachariah dwelt; and there entering she gave Elizabeth a greeting”.  It was a greeting that caused Elizabeth’s child “to leap in her womb”; and caused Elizabeth to be “filled with the Holy Spirit”.  The Gospel tells us that “she cried out with a loud voice, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of the womb.”

St. Elizabeth went on to praise Our Lady for her faith in God: “Blessed art thou for thy believing; the message that was brought to thee from the Lord shall have fulfilment.”

An Expression . . .

In his encyclical, Mother of the Redeemer, Pope John Paul II explains the significance of the words of St. Elizabeth. “In her greeting, Elizabeth first called Mary ‘blessed’ because of ‘the fruit of her womb,’ and then she called her ‘blessed’ because of her faith. These two blessings referred directly to the annunciation. Now, at the visitation, when Elizabeth’s greeting bears witness to that culminating moment, Mary’s faith acquires a new consciousness and a new expression. That which remained hidden in the depths of the ‘obedience of faith’ at the annunciation can now be said to spring forth like a clear and life-giving flame of the Spirit.”

The canticle of the Magnificat is an expression of Our Lady’s faith in God; in His promises to the Chosen People; in the sought-for Redeemer of the world now present in her womb. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on His servant in her lowliness. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name; and His mercy is from age to age on those who fear Him.”

. . . of Faith

The Magnificat is certainly an appropriate prayer for all of us to use, to meditate and to pray. In it we find the kind of faith that all of us need in an age of weakened belief in the goodness and power of God. Like our Blessed Lady, we are called not only to keep our faith hidden in “the obedience of faith,” but to let it “spring forth like a clear and life-giving flame of the Spirit.”

Our life here on earth is indeed a pilgrimage of faith. And our Holy Father reminds us that “the Virgin Mother is constantly present on this Journey of the people of God toward the light. This is shown in a special way by the canticle of the Magnificat; which having welled up from the depths of Mary’s faith at the visitation, ceaselessly re-echoes in the heart of the Church down the centuries.”

Hope in the Promise to Come

The Magnificat is the kind of prayer that forces us to look beyond the present and to see, as Our Blessed Lady saw, the hope of the promise to come. It is, above all, a prayer of faith, the kind of faith that makes us believe that God is still with His people. “He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud-hearted; He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; and He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the righteous away empty.”

The Magnificat reminds us of the all-pervasive presence of God among us and with us. “He has helped Israel His servant, remembering His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his posterity forever.”