Luke
1:39-55
We have reflected on how Angel Gabriel came to Mary
and Joseph and told this holy couple in betrothal of Mary’s virgin pregnancy
with the Son of God and how each of this holy couple responded.
Now, the solemn feast of the Nativity of our Lord is
only two days away, has Angel Gabriel come to you and brought an annunciation
about Christ?
If not, you must have been spending Advent season
not quite right, as, perhaps, being distracted by all these noises and
glittering lights of commercialism and consumerism.
We still have today and tomorrow to get everything
straight. So, let us retreat to a sacred time and space of the kind of quiet
darkness that St. John of the Cross recognized the closeness to God. If you are
like Joseph, then, you may experience an annunciation in your dream. So, let us
be vigilant.
Of course, this vigilance is not just for the
annunciation we need before witnessing the arrival of Christ but to witness and
encounter the incarnated Christ at his arrival in our hearts.
We have reflected and pondered upon Mary at the
Annunciation and now come to know that Mary was anxious but let her initial
anxiety turn into her fiat to serve as the Theotokos, according to the Word of
God – according to the will of God on her. She must have found the source of
confidence in trusting what God has done to her, making her pregnant with the
Son of God, as she was told that the power of God overshadows her and she is
filled with God’s special grace, being full of grace imperviously to any
corrupting effects of the Original Sin (as she was made to be the Immaculate
Conception).
Now let us further reflect what her fiat led Mary
to.
When Mary gave her fiat, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May
it be done to me according to your word”(Luke 1:38), she was already filled
with a sense of mission. This is Mary’s firm pledge to God that she has
accepted her mission to serve Him as the Theotokos, as announced by Angel
Gabriel.
So, what is Mary’s first mission activity?
And it is the Visitation - her visit to Elizabeth, Mary’s relative.
During the Annunciation, Gabriel told Mary of the
surprise pregnancy of Elizabeth, who had been thought as barren. Even her
husband, Zachariah, the priest, did not believe that her “barren” wife,
Elizabeth, would ever become pregnant (Luke 1:18) (and he was “punished” for
not believing it by being made unable to speak – Luke 1:20). Perhaps, Gabriel
told Mary of Elizabeth’s pregnancy at her old age to help her believe her own
virgin pregnancy so that she knows fully that there is nothing impossible for
God as He wills – though it is impossible for the humans (Luke 1:36-37).
So, after the Annunciation, Mary wasted no time and
journeyed in haste, in spite of dangerous conditions of the hill country (Luke
1:39). Imagine what was in Mary’s mind. She must be so excited about
Elizabeth’s pregnancy, though it was still as hard to understand as it was of
her own virgin pregnancy. Joy overrode all these wondering and prompted Mary to
visit Elizabeth in hurry.
Mary, who traveled through rough terrains from
Nazareth in Galilee, arrived safely at the house of Elizabeth and Zachariah in
Judea, as she was protected by God, whose power overshadowed (Luke 1:35). And
as Mary greeted Elizabeth upon her entry, the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leaped
for joy, while Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). It was
not only Elizabeth’s son in her womb, John the Baptist, but also Elizabeth
herself, overjoyed to have Mary. So, filled with the Holy Spirit and joy, which
is the first aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), Elizabeth
cries out:
Most
blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how
does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at
the moment of the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb
leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the
Lord would be fulfilled (Luke 1:42-45).
It is noteworthy that Elizabeth obviously knew that
Mary’s virgin pregnancy was an act of God to make her the Theotokos, as she recognize Mary as “the mother of my Lord”(Luke
1:43). And, she also knew that her own pregnancy at an old age, after years of
being barren, was also an act of God, freeing her from all the disgrace of
being a childless woman (Luke 1:25; cf. Jeremiah 23:30; Psalm 128:1-4). Above
all, when Elizabeth spoke this to Mary, she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Thus, it was the Holy Spirit to have prompted Elizabeth to express her joyful
acknowledgement of Mary’s pregnancy with the Son of God. She was, at the same
time, so honored and blessed to have been visited by the Son of God in Mary’s
womb, in addition to the blessing that she has already received to be pregnant
at her old age, being freed from the disgrace of being barren.
Elizabeth also thinks that those who believe Mary’s
virgin pregnancy with the Son of God, as announced to Mary by Angel Gabriel
(Luke 1:31-33, 35-37), are blessed as it will be fulfilled upon the birth of
the Son progressively (Luke 1:45).
Now in response to Elizabeth’s words of joy and
blessings, Mary speaks her Magnificat, her joyful canticle of glorifying El
Shaddai, almighty God of mercy and justice. She attributed all the joy that she
and Elizabeth share is thanks to God, who is almighty. Thus, there is nothing
impossible for Him to do.
My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For
he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages
call me blessed.
The
Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His
mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He
has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He
has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The
hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
He
has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise
to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever
(Luke 1:46-55).
As Elizabeth was so, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
therefore, filled with the first aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, joy
(Galatians 5:22), Mary now proclaims that her soul magnifies the Lord (Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον – Megalynei he
psyche mou ton Kyrion) (Luke 1:46). The Greek verb, μεγαλύνω (megaluno), which means “to magnify” is also translated as
“to glorify” and “to exalt”. So, in magnifying the Lord, Mary is also
glorifying and exalting God. And this magnification – glorification –
exaltation of El Shaddai, almighty God, in Luke 1:46 is comparable to the
spirit in Psalm 69:31, אֲהַֽלְלָ֣ה שֵׁם־אֱלֹהִ֣ים
בְּשִׁ֑יר וַאֲגַדְּלֶ֥נּוּ בְתֹודָֽה׃ – ahallah sem elohim besir waagaddelennu
betowdah: I will praise God’s name in song and glorify (magnify)
it with thanksgiving. The Greek
word, μεγαλύνω (megaluno) in Luke
1:26 corresponds to the Hebrew word, גָּדַל
(gadal) in Psalm 69:31, as both of these biblical words mean “to magnify
and to glorify”, referring to God.
Not only that Mary magnifies – glorifies almighty God
in her soul (Luke 1:46) but also rejoices over Him for giving special grace on her,
though she is just a lowly peasant girl in Nazareth, just betrothed to Joseph,
making her blessed, therefore, making her known as the Blessed Virgin (Luke
1:47-48).
And, Mary sings this God, whom she magnifies and
glorifies in her soul, is holy as it is in his name (Luke 1:49) echoing Psalm
119:9, for He sure has done great things on her, including having chosen her as
the Theotokos, by making her the
Immaculate Conception – being full of grace, echoing Psalm 126:2–3. Now Mary
sees her virgin pregnancy as a great thing done by God, whom she magnifies in
her soul with joy. u
Then, Mary sings out the mercy of God onto those who
revere Him throughout ages (Luke 1:50),, followed by her singing of how God’s salvation will unfold with His mercy
and justice, perhaps, projecting what the Son in her womb will bring about, in
His might (Luke 1:51-54), and all of this is to further fulfill His covenant
given to Abraham (Luke 1:55), recalling Genesis 12:1-3; 13:15; 17:7; 18:18;
22:17–18.
See Mary’s profound insights into her pregnancy,
though she at first did not understand but just accepted with her fiat. She now
begins to understand, as filled with the Holy Spirit, in her magnification of
God!
Now, we ask ourselves:
Has Angel Gabriel came and announce in regard to the
incarnated Christ and your mission personally?
If so, have you responded with your fiat?
If so, have you been filled with joy, which is the
first aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, thus being filled with the Holy
Spirit, as well, to glorify almighty God, El Shaddai, in your magnificat
canticle?
In other words, by now in this Advent Season, have
you been like being Mary upon the Annunciation and the Visitation, the first
two joyful mysteries of the Holy Rosary?
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