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Theo Tigno•
12/22/2004 11:32 am
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Thursday in the Fourth Week of Advent |
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.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for those who are traveling this Christmas season.
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Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, O Infant Jesus.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Infant Jesus.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
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I wanted to find out more about the Magnificat, and so I did some research on the Internet and found this from "JESUS LIVING IN MARY: HANDBOOK OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT"
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The significance and excellence of the canticle are due to certain of its characteristics that [St. Louis de Montfort] illuminates.
1. Hymn of Mary
The first is that it is a hymn of Mary, reflecting the exceptional richness of her interior world. In Montfort's words, it is "the only prayer we have which was composed by our Lady, or rather, composed by Jesus in her, for it was he who spoke through her lips". Not only is it a prayer suggested by the Holy Spirit; it is uttered by Jesus himself from the mouth of his mother. This is certainly a singular vision, but highly indicative of the communion between the Virgin and her Son and of the theological aspect of this sublime hymn.
2. Expression of praise and blessing
It is an expression of praise and blessing, of thanksgiving and petition. It is a prayer addressed to God in return for the blessings granted to the Virgin and continuously delivered to all those who place their trust in her: "It is the greatest offering of praise that God ever received under the law of grace. On the one hand, it is the most humble hymn of thanksgiving and, on the other, it is the most sublime and exalted".
3. Divine canticle
Montfort observes correctly that the Magnificat is a divine canticle that comes from Jesus in the Spirit and returns to the Father. While remembering that we recite the Magnificat to "thank God for favoring us", Montfort does not completely explore the meaning of its "theological dimension": the celebration of God and God's work in the history of salvation, especially the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, the specific object of the Magnificat. For Montfort, its theological import lies in the fact that the Virgin, through her hymn, returns to the Lord the praise and benedictions that are addressed to her, like a faithful echo. On the other hand, the saint does evoke, albeit briefly and rather generally, the Trinitarian implications of this theological dimension; the hymn is "most glorious to the Blessed Trinity, for any honor we pay to our Lady returns inevitably to God, the source of all her perfections and virtues. God the Father is glorified when we honor the most perfect of his creatures; God the Son is glorified when we praise his most pure Mother; the Holy Spirit is glorified when we are lost in admiration at the graces with which he has filled his spouse".
4. Prayer with the power of God
The Magnificat is a prayer with the power of God. It does not merely invoke the memory of the works of salvation but demonstrates their living efficaciousness: "The learned Benzonius... cites several miracles worked through the power of this prayer. The devils, he declares, take to flight when they hear these words, 'He puts forth his arm in strength and scatters the proud-hearted'"
5. Prayer filled with mystery
Finally, the Magnificat is a prayer filled with mystery. It contains the secrets of God, which human thought cannot attain and which should only be approached in reverence and fear. "Contained in it are mysteries so great and so hidden that even the angels do not understand them... It was with apprehension that [Gerson] undertook towards the end of his life to write a commentary on the Magnificat which was the crowning point of all his works. In a large volume on the subject he says many wonderful things about this beautiful and divine canticle".
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If you want to read more about it, you can visit: http://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/Handbook/Magnifi.htm.
Take care and God Bless.
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