Magnificat
St Mary Magdalene Church Trimdon Village Bridget Jones design
1 Samuel 1:19-28
Luke 1:46-56
Psalm 113
Mary has received a visit from a messenger angel; God has touched the core of her being and filled her with divine promise. She is bursting with the sheer joy that is God, with the joy of a love that throws her out of herself. It is fervent and empowered, grounded by Elizabeth’s embrace.
She sings of her gratitude to the Beloved, for God has chosen her, one of the lowly. But God’s promise is not for herself alone. It is a message of solidarity with all of the lowly. This is God who raises the powerless and turns the world upside down.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a theologian martyred by the Nazis, called Mary’s song “the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary hymn that has ever been sung.” Revolutionaries and the exploited have identified with its passion and its message. But the Magnificat has also been considered a danger by many of those in positions of power. It is said that during the 1980’s in El Salvador and Guatemala, the military dictatorship of the 70’s and 80’s in Argentina, and the British rule in India, those in power forbade the Magnifi cat from being spoken in liturgy or in public.
I believe that Mary’s joy in the Annunciation must have echoed the joy of Mother Earth. All of creation is deeply connected in a flow of Love. All of creation is filled with elation over God’s covenant. So, Mary’s song joined the universe in its own choir of joy.
Barbara Sheppard