Thursday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 23, 2022

Luke 1, 46-56

Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”   Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

If we compare the Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1, 68-79), which The priest uttered after the birth of his son when his speech was restored to him, with the Canticle of Mary, which is contained in today’s Gospel Reading, we can see points of similarity and difference.  One similarity is they are both spoken with joy.  Another is that they both mention Abraham.  In terms of differences, Zechariah’s leans more towards prophecy than Mary’s, and there are good reasons for this.  Zechariah is announcing the birth of the Precursor and explains what his mission shall be.  The Virgin Mary’s Son will be announced by Zechariah’s son and so there is no need for Mary to prophesy.  Also, were Mary to speak of even a small part of what her Son would do, hardly anyone would believe her.  It is sufficient for us, in God’s plan, that Zechariah put the world on notice about the mission of his son, and that his son put the world on notice as to the arrival of its Redeemer.

What does Mary do in her Canticle?  She tells us straightway: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”  The Greek says, “My soul extols the Lord; my spirit exults in God my Savior.”  Now, in Greek, the soul and the spirit are two different things, the first meaning the immortal soul of a human being, and the second meaning a person’s physical life, his breath.  Mary, then, rejoices in God with her whole being, body and soul.  She calls God her “Savior”, according to this translation, but the word can also mean “preserver”, and this hints at a reason for her exultation: she is saved by God in that she is created free from original sin and destined for heaven after this life.  But he also preserves her virginity, which was a concern she had when the angel spoke to her about becoming the Mother of God’s Son.  Deep in her heart, she always loved God so deeply and passionately that there was no possible room for any distraction, precluding relations with husband.  She always felt called to virginity, she knew it to be from God, and so when Gabriel announced to her that she would be the Mother of God’s Son, this seemed to run contrary to God’s plan for her, as she had understood it till that time.  The resolution of the issue, that hers would be a virginal conception, brought her great joy in her understanding that she would continue as a Virgin, and it gave her some insight into what further use God would have with her.  Mary encapsulates this joy in saying, simply, “For he has looked upon his lowly servant.”  That is, in the Greek, “He has looked upon the lowly condition of his slave.”  Better than anyone who has ever lived, she knew that she could do nothing without God.  (Mary must have wondered often about her unique and divine call to virginity, since it did go against what the Jews believed and indeed against human nature, and how she was going to live this out in her town.  Perhaps, in her simple and unwavering acceptance of God’s plan for her, she maintained that, With God all things are possible.  When Gabriel repeats this to her, she rejoices: what she had known all along went perfectly with what Gabriel was revealing to her now).

We ourselves rejoice, recognizing the sorry and helpless condition we have sunk into because of our sins, and yet God, in his wondrous mercy, has provided us so dear and so holy a Mother, and so stunning a Savior.