What I’m Thinking: Magnificat Joy

The Song of Mary – also known as the “Magnificat” comes to us for the Third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy. So I’m thinking about joy, and about finding it in trying times. For whom might you be the seed of joy this week?

Here’s a transcript:

In the first chapter of Luke, after Mary has received the news that she is going to become the mother of the Messiah, she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. And it is in that encounter with the mother of the person who would turn out to be John the Baptist that Mary suddenly burst out in a song that has just resonated down the ages.

It’s one that actually comes from more years before than that. It’s the Song of Hannah, but Mary readapts it for her own circumstances. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

The quality of joy is one that has been speculated about, thought about, spoken about, and written about many, many times over the centuries. It’s not the same thing as happiness; we know that. But I imagine even joy must have been somewhat difficult to summon for Mary. After all, she’s engaged, and not married. I suspect her pregnancy was a matter of significant difficulty in her family and also in her community.

And yet, she summons it up, not at an angel’s words, but at the words of one who loves her, one to whom she’s close.

I guess what I’m thinking this week is that we can all provide that word that is the seed of joy for each other. There is somebody who loves us for whom that word is really important this week, as we move on into the Christmas season.

Well, that’s what I’m thinking. I’m interested to hear what you’re thinking. So leave us a comment in the space below or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.