Maginificat anima mea Dominum…My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. (Luke 1:46)
These are the first words of the Magnificat, the most beautiful of canticles, since it is the canticle of the Mother of God. The angel Gabriel announces to the Blessed Virgin Mary that She is to be the Mother of God, and She responds with Her “fiat.” “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). The Blessed Virgin Mary has free will; She is free to say yes or no to God’s plan for Her, to say no to the Divine Motherhood. She says yes, and at Her “fiat” the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, is conceived in Her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. God becomes man. The incarnation, the greatest event of all time, takes place. “And the word became flesh” (John 1:14).
Our Blessed Mother is told by the angel Gabriel that her kinswoman Elizabeth is with child, and that she is in her sixth month. From these words the Blessed Mother understands that it is God’s will that She visit Elizabeth, and She departs in haste. Upon arriving, Our Blessed Mother greets Elizabeth. “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41). At this moment, the words of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah regarding his son John (the Baptist), who is in the womb of Elizabeth are fulfilled: “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Thus the Blessed Virgin’s visit to Elizabeth fulfills the will of God, since at Her greeting John is filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb.
Then Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, “exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’” (Luke 1:42-43). Elizabeth’s words are inspired by the Holy Spirit, since of course she did not know beforehand that Mary was with child, much less with the Messiah, the Christ. God honors His Mother through Elizabeth’s words.
Elizabeth proclaims the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Divine Motherhood, that She is bearing the Messiah, yet she does not say “who am I that my Lord should come to me,” but rather, “why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Thus God, through Elizabeth’s words, which He inspired, exalts His Mother, since Her Divine Motherhood raises Her above all women. “Blessed are you among women…”
The Blessed Virgin responds with Her Magnificat, the greatest and most beautiful of all canticles, the fulfillment as it were of all canticles, the canticle which gathers all canticles into itself:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity forever.
Luke 1:46-55
The Magnificat is the song of the poor and the lowly (cf. CCC, n. 2019); it is the song of the lowly handmaid of the Lord and of Her spiritual children praising God for His greatness, for His great mercy upon us. God fulfills His promise to our fathers, to Abraham and his children, in Jesus, His Beloved only Begotten Son, Whom He sends to save all humanity from the death of sin which Adam and Eve brought to all their offspring, to all generations.
And blessed, most blessed among women is the Blessed Virgin Mary, Who by Her “fiat” becomes the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus, conceived in Her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:48-49). Truly, God has done great things for Our Blessed Mother. Great are Her privileges, and they all flow from Her greatest privilege, which is Her Divine Motherhood—Mother of God. There is no greater privilege that God can bestow upon a woman. She is the crown of creation, His masterpiece. The Blessed Virgin Mary was in the “mind” of God from all eternity, and when the appointed time came, He created Her, His Mother, to bear Him. In bearing Him, She bears His entire Mystical Body the Church, for the Mother of the Head is the Mother of the Body, of the members. Thus, when the Mother sings the Magnificat with Jesus in Her womb, the Church—all Her spiritual children—sings with Her.
The Maginificat is the song of the Mother and the song of the Church echoing down through the ages, sung by every generation until the end of time (cf. CCC, n. 2619). Yes, the Church, with her Mother, “proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” the greatness of His mercy, for giving us His Son, His only Begotten Son, to be our Savior. As the Church sings in the Exultet in the mother of all vigils, the Easter Vigil Mass: “O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam destroyed completely by the death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” There too at the Easter Vigil Mass the Church exults in God our Savior, Who by His Resurrection triumphs over death. The Exultet is a hymn of exultant joy, of praise, of thanksgiving, composed by men. How much more is the song of the Mother of God rising up from the Holy Spirit, and Jesus within Her, a song of exultant joy, of praise, of thanksgiving.
The Magnificat is a song of God’s mercy, of the triumph of God’s mercy over the powers of evil, of darkness. “He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones” (Luke 1:51-52). Satan and his fallen angels are defeated by Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection. Jesus wins the victory over evil, sin and death. His mercy triumphs through the poor and the lowly—the humble “handmaid of the Lord,” and Her spiritual children through whom She continues to triumph over the powers of darkness until the end of time. Her spiritual children—the poor and the lowly—are the heel with which She continues to crush the head of Satan until the end of time (cf. St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, n. 54). The poor and the lowly are the children of God and the children of Mary whom God lifts up to His very throne; they inherit the Kingdom—Heaven. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
“And the rich He has sent empty away” (Luke 1:53). The rich are those who reject God, who have no need of Him, who have no need of His mercy, and choose to reject it. They will go where they choose to go—to hell, “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” for in Jesus, God has bestowed upon man the fullness of His mercy—His very self. In Jesus Christ He has bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin Mary “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and through Her upon all humanity likewise. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3).
de Champaigne, P. (1643). The Visitation [oil on canvas]. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
