My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
This day might be one of my favorite feasts to celebrate. The feast of the visitation is a day when we celebrate Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth. Both women were unexpectedly with child. When Elizabeth greeted Mary, the child in Elizabeth’s womb, later known as John the Baptist, leapt for joy, and it says Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed to Mary, Blessed are you, and your baby.
Mary’s response is known as Mary’s Song of Praise, or the Magnificat, and is one of the most moving pieces of scripture to me. Referring back to a song by Hannah, mother of Samuel, Mary explains how blessed she is, that God has looked on her to carry out this part of God’s plan. She professes all of the things God will do through this child. Contrasting two opposite current realities, she explains that God will put things right. The hungry will be fed, the rich will be sent away empty. The powerful will be taken from their thrones, and the lowly lifted up.
I’ve heard these words many times, and it’s easy to become numb to the power of Mary’s words. She was an unwed young teen. Visited by an angel. Pregnant in an incredulous way. Engaged to an older man. That’s some crazy fortitude right there.
And one of the reasons this song is powerful to me has to do with a spiritual exercise I did at a retreat probably 10 years ago. I was at Franciscan retreat house for a 2 day retreat in the midst of my formation to be ordained as a deacon. I spent most of the time in quiet, walking the beautiful grounds, and reading scripture, or a book I’d brought with exercises. I tried a few practices – walking with a piece of scripture and repeating it with every step, reading a piece of scripture and focusing on the words that jumped out. The exercise that knocked my socks off involved the Magnificat.
I read this passage from Luke. Read it again. And again. This was Mary’s response to a seemingly impossible request from God. God called, she responded through this song. After reading her response many times, I was asked to write my own Magnificat. What was my response to God?
Wow. I remember being humbled when I started. Who me? And as I sat with my response, the words and the doodles started coming out. I ended up with a page of my own response, complete with pictures in colored pencil. By the end of the hours I spent doing that, I felt powerful and my response seemed much clearer. I still have that page. It’s nothing spectacular or poetic, and I’m not sure I could explain all of the pictures I drew, but they all had a meaning at the time.
But I can say that without a doubt that was one of the best afternoons I’ve spent. I seriously thought about what God was calling me to be, and how I was going to respond. Not in a practical way – take this class, write this paper, but in a very deep and soulful way. When you can find a few hours, bring your Bible, and pens and paper and read the Magnificat. Read it again. And write your own. It’s powerful.
To this day, when people talk about the Magnificat, I smile. I know they’re talking about Mary’s beautiful Song of Praise, in response to God’s question of her. It’s poetic, and humble, and powerful, not to mention set to some spectacular music. And all of that flashes through my mind when thinking of Mary’s Song. I always return to my one day of scribbling and writing and reflecting on the same question posed to me, to the day when I wrote Carter’s Song of Praise.
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