The Magnificat is a freedom song of the poor.  Mary, the lead singer, epitomizes the lowly of Israel, those marginalized by society, for whom there is “no room in the inn.”^[1]  God is her only hope, and she sings his praises with exuberant confidence.  As members of the Vincentian Family, we gladly join our voices to hers.

Recalling the Magnificat, Pope John Paul II writes eloquently in Redemptoris Mater.^[2]

The Church’s love of preference for the poor is wonderfully inscribed in Mary’s Magnificat....  Mary is deeply imbued with the spirit of the “poor of Yahweh,” who in the prayer of the Psalms awaited from God their salvation, placing all their trust in him (cf. Pss 25; 31; 35; 55).  Mary truly proclaims the coming of the “Messiah of the poor” (Is 11:4; 61:1).  Drawing from Mary’s heart, from the depth of her faith expressed in the words of the Magnificat, the Church renews ever more effectively in herself the awareness that the truth about God who saves, the truth about God who is the source of every gift, cannot be separated from the manifestation of his love of preference for the poor and humble, that love which, celebrated in the Magnificat, is later expressed in the words and works of Jesus.

The Magnificat is important for all of us.  Many members of our Family pray it everyday.  Recently, the First General Assembly of our Vincentian Marian Youth Association, in its final document, stated:

1. We will base our Marian spirituality on the canticle of the Magnificat, which invites us to live in joyful thanksgiving to God for the wonders of salvation.

2. Inspired by this Magnificat canticle we will make a clear option for God who is the only Absolute, and we will take our place among the poor, for this is the Amilieu@ in which we will be living out our commitment to God.

In this article, I will examine the Magnificat in three steps:

1.           its structure,

2.            its contents,

3.            the spirituality it expresses.

I                        THE STRUCTURE OF THE MAGNIFICAT

The Magnificat is a mosaic of Old Testament expressions.  It is important to note this fact from the beginning, since it shows how deeply rooted in the scriptures was the New Testament community from which this canticle sprang.

Mary’s song resembles a psalm-type known as Ahymns of praise@; e.g., Psalms 33, 47, 48.  These usually have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.  Like many such psalms, the Magnificat employs a poetic device called Aparallelism.@  This entails constructing two parallel lines that are metrically balanced.  Sometimes the parallelism is synonymous; that is, both lines say basically the same thing, even though each line uses different words or images.  For example:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

And my spirit has found gladness in God my Savior.

Sometimes the parallelism is antithetic; that is, the two lines say the opposite.  For example:

He has put down the mighty from their thrones

And has exalted those of low degree.

But, while recognizing the importance of the Old Testament background of the Magnificat, it is also essential to note that Mary’s Canticle is written from a post-Resurrection perspective.  It is a hymn of the New Testament community.  Luke incorporated it into his gospel, probably with some slight changes, around the years 80-90.  It therefore manifests the faith of the community that was already spreading rapidly throughout the world, most of whose members came from the poorest strata of society.

II         THE CONTENTS OF MARY’S SONG

1.           INTRODUCTORY PRAISE

^1:46b My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

^1:47 and my spirit has found gladness in God my Savior:

I Sam 2:2-1 (Hannah’s hymn):

   My heart is strengthened in the Lord;

   my horn is exalted in my God...

   I delight in your salvation.

*Ps 35:9:

   Then my soul will find gladness in the Lord;

   it will take pleasure in His salvation.

*Hab 3:18 (Habakkuk’s hymn):

   I shall find gladness in the Lord;

   I shall rejoice in God my Savior.

Mary’s song has deep roots in the hymn sung by Hannah in I Samuel 2, as she leaves her son Samuel in the temple dedicating him to God.  The beginning of the canticle also has parallels in Psalm 35 and in Habakkuk’s hymn.^[3]  The first two verses of the Magnificat are strikingly similar to these three Old Testament sources, as is evident in the citations above.

2.            DEVELOPMENT

^1:48a Because He has regarded the low estate of His handmaid

I Sam 1:11 (Hannah praying for a child):

   O Lord of Hosts, if you will look on the low estate of your handmaid.

Gen 29:32 (Leah after childbirth):

   Because the Lord has regarded my low estate.

Verse 48a repeats Mary’s self-description in her conversation with Gabriel.  She is the handmaid^[4] of the Lord, God’s servant.  She recognizes her Alow estate,@ her humble position in society, her poverty.

The reader will quickly note the similarity between this verse of Mary’s song and two Old Testament texts regarding barren women.

^1:48b for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed

*Gen 30:13 (Leah after childbirth):

   Fortunate am I, for all women call me blessed.

In the second part of verse 48, Luke returns to the theme of Mary’s Ablessedness.@  Mary’s recognition of herself as Ablessed@ echoes Elizabeth’s salutation just a few verses earlier:^[5] ABlessed are you among women.@  She is blessed because of the marvels that God has performed in her life.

^1:49a Because He who is mighty has done great things for me.

Deut 10:21 (Moses to Israel):

   He is your God who has done great things in you.

In verse 49a, Luke introduces the first of several attributes of Yahweh, placing these titles in Mary’s mouth.  She speaks of Ahe who is mighty.@

God’s might is contrasted with Mary’s lowliness.  God has done great things for this woman, without power and without pretensions, by making her mother of the Savior

^1:49b And holy is His name,

Ps 111:9:

   Holy and awesome is His name.

In verse 49b, Luke places on Mary’s lips a second attribute of God: Aholy is his name.@ The Old Testament conviction about God’s holiness, clearly enunciated in Psalm 111:9, is rooted in God’s own self-description when describing the covenant made with his people in the Book of Leviticus: A... you shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy.@^[6]

^1:50a And His mercy is from generation to generation

   on those who fear Him.

Ps 103:17:

   But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him

Verse 50a introduces Yahweh’s third attribute: mercy.  The psalms speak of this attribute continually.  God’s mercy, or faithful love, is one of the most frequent Old Testament themes: Ahis mercy endures forever.@^[7]  Mercy is also a favorite Lucan theme.

^1:51a He has shown His strength with His arm;

^1:51b He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

*Ps 89:11:

   You have reduced the proud to lowliness like a wounded thing;

   and by your powerful arm you have scattered your enemies.

In this strophe, the reasons for Mary’s praise are motives for which not just Mary but all the poor of Israel proclaim God’s greatness.

^1:52a He has put down the mighty from their thrones

^1:52b and has exalted those of low degree.

Sirach 10:14:

   He has put down the thrones of princes

   and has seated the humble before them.

^1:53a He has filled the hungry with good things,

^1:53b and the rich He has sent away empty.

Ps 107:9:

   He has filled the soul of the hungry with good things.

Verses 52 and 53 are beautiful examples of antithetic parallelism; that is, the second line of each verse states the opposite of the first.

While the Magnificat speaks of the spiritual hunger of the oppressed, who long for God’s intervention, we should also be very mindful of the physical realities faced by the early Christians.

Luke’s rather emphatic castigation of wealth^[8] indicates that there were many poor in the communities to which his gospel was addressed.  The Magnificat surely resonated with such groups.

3.            CONCLUSION

^1:54a He has helped His servant Israel

^1:54b in remembrance of His mercy,

^1:55a as He spoke unto our fathers,

^1:55b to Abraham and his posterity forever.

II Sam 22:51: (David’s hymn at the end of his life):

   Showing mercy to His anointed one,

   to David and to his posterity forever.

The salvation that has broken into the world in the person of Jesus is the definitive sign that God had kept his covenant with his people.  It is the ultimate manifestation of his mercy.

The reference to Abraham in 55b is the first occurrence of an extensive Lucan theme.^[9]  God, faithful to his covenant, will multiply his newly constituted people Alike the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore of the sea.@^[10]

III            CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPIRITUALITY OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Now, I offer you six characteristics of a person who has assimilated the spirituality of Mary, the first disciple.

1.         Her (or his) thoughts, her meditation, her life are rooted in the scriptures.

This subtle, but utterly fundamental, aspect of a Magnificat spirituality flows from an examination of the structure of the hymn, which is a collage of Old Testament thoughts and phrases.

The Christian community was deeply convinced that Jesus was the fulfillment of the scriptures.  In him the new and everlasting covenant between God and his people was definitively forged.  The community, viewing the world from a post-resurrection perspective, believed that God had already saved his people in Christ.  In him the final stage of history had begun.  This history, however, is not the destruction of what went before; it is, rather, its completion.  The promises made to Abraham are brought to full realization in Christ.

Luke’s gospel, as well as his Book of the Acts, makes it very clear how imbued with the scriptures the early Christian community was.  The Magnificat is a wonderful example of this, since it brings together Hannah’s Song, the Psalms, the Pentateuch, and citations from a number of other Old Testament sources.  Luke’s use of the scriptures in Mary’s Song is not just a passing one, restricted to the infancy narratives or to the Magnificat in particular.  Rather, emphasis on God’s word is a central Lucan theme, repeated again and again.  In Luke’s first chapter, Mary responds to the angel, ABe it done to me according to your word.”^[11]

This first aspect of a Magnificat spirituality is one that has often been under-emphasized in the Catholic tradition: in the life of a disciple, the word of God is central.  The disciple is called to listen to it, meditate on it, digest it, and act on it.

2.         She (or he) believes in a personal God who acts in human history and in her own life.

The God of the Magnificat is not distant, impersonal.  Mary’s God is not a god of the philosophers.  God is utterly personal for her.  She listens to God and speaks with him.  She believes that God listens attentively to her.  Even more, she believes that God acts.

Psalm 136, which is echoed in Mary’s Canticle, is a good illustration of the mind-set of a disciple who has imbibed a Magnificat spirituality.  The psalm recounts the great saving deeds of God in Israel’s history in the form of a litany, repeating, after naming each event, Afor his mercy endures forever.@  It sings of God’s greatness in creating the universe,^[12] in bringing Israel to the promised land,^[13] and in having pity on the misery of his people.^[14]  There are many other lovely Old Testament texts which chant God’s praises for intervening in Israel’s history. Exodus 15:1-18, for example, which is used as one of the readings in the Easter Vigil, sings God’s praises for delivering Israel from its captivity in Egypt, for passing through the Red Sea, for guiding his people through the desert, and for bringing it to the promised land.  Some of its themes too are echoed in Mary’s Song.

A Magnificat spirituality is deeply conscious that God loves his people as a whole, and each of its members individually.  Mary had no doubts that the living God had entered into a deeply personal relationship with her and that God was guiding her life from its beginning to its end.

3.         She (or he) prays in praise and gratitude.

Luke’s gospel continually aims at teaching us to pray.  It is the most didactic of the gospels in this regard.  The following of Christ is one of Luke’s central themes, so when the disciples ask Jesus: ALord, teach us to pray,@^[15] they are making this request on behalf of all Jesus’ followers.  Jesus’ reply is aimed, through his disciples, at every reader of the gospel: When you pray, say....@^[16]  The Lucan Jesus teaches us to use diverse forms of prayer.

But here in the Magnificat, Luke teaches, through Mary, that Christian prayer is most of all praise and gratitude.  Mary is filled with joy because she is conscious of how good God has been to her.  She knows that God is active in her life.  She believes too that God has accompanied his people right from the covenant made with Abraham to this last stage of human history when God has revealed himself definitively in the person of Jesus.  Now, as Mary says, she is delighted that a new, final era of history has begun!  She sings.  She rejoices.  She praises.  She gives thanks.

4.            Knowing God as mighty, holy, merciful, and faithful to his promises, she (or he) has exuberant confidence in him.

Mary’s vision of God, as expressed in the Magnificat, encompasses these four attributes especially:

Mighty.  For Mary, nothing is impossible to God.  This belief enables her to pray with confidence.  She believes that God can heal the sick, change the sinner, and overcome even death.

Holy.  Mary’s concept of holiness is difficult for the modern person to appreciate fully, since today holiness is often confused with piety.  In the mind of a first century Jewish woman rooted in the scriptures, however, holiness was intimately linked with justice, impartiality.  Mary trusted that God would come down on the side of the innocent, the oppressed.  God plays no favorites.^[17] Ultimately, he will undo the plots of evildoers.  God is the friend of the widow, the orphan, and the refugee.  Holiness too, from an Old Testament perspective, meant that God is awesome, utterly distinct from all created beings.  One can stand in the presence of God, therefore, only with reverence, or Afear of the Lord.@  But at the same time, this awesome God, so set apart from his creatures, is intimately present to them.  He draws his people to himself Awith bands of love.@^[18]

Merciful.  Luke repeats this theme again and again.  The parables of mercy are distinctively Lucan,^[19] as are several other beautiful stories illustrating Jesus’ compassionate love.^[20]

Faithful to his promises.  The Magnificat is very much covenant-oriented.  In it, Mary is deeply conscious of herself as a member of God’s people.  It is clear that the covenant with Abraham plays a foundational role in her faith as a Jewish woman.  It is also evident that she believes that God has now entered into a new and final covenant with his new people that far surpasses the expectations that anyone had beforehand.

5.                  She (or he) recognizes her own powerlessness and sees herself as completely dependent on God.

This aspect of a Magnificat spirituality is the foundation for what we usually describe as Ahumility,@ which holds such a prominent place in St. Vincent’s teaching.  For Mary, God is the giver of all good gifts.  He is Athe mighty one,@ the God of creation.  God is also, from the post-Resurrection perspective of the Magnificat, the God of redemption, who has brought life from death.

Before the omnipotent God, Mary recognizes her own Alow estate.@  She is not among the world’s powerful.  She professes no extraordinary human accomplishments.  She is simply God’s Amaidservant,@ standing at his beck and call, ready to do whatever God asks of her.  She has a servant’s attitude before God and a servant-role in human history.  She professes her faith that all creation and all human history are totally dependent on God.  Nothing is impossible for him.

6.         She (or he) believes that God can turn the world upside-down.