'And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; 47 my spirit rejoices in God my savior. 48 For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. 49 The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. 51 He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. 52 He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. 53 The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, 55 according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever (Lk. 1:46-55).”
Both Mary and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit. This canticle is similar to the song of Solomon’s mother Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1-10). Luke again used the theme of rejoicing at God’s fulfillment of His promise. Mary understood that her pregnancy was an act of God and praised God for what he was doing through her for the benefit of all mankind. Handmaid used in v. 38, and blessedness in v. 45 are repeated in the canticle. The lowly slave girl of the Lord will be ‘hailed’ (v. 28) by future generations in the age of salvation now begun by God with the incarnation. The holy and mighty God has uplifted Mary and He has shown mercy throughout all generations to those who love (fear) Him.
In the past (OT), God did the things described in vv. 51-53 and He will continue to do them with the coming of Jesus. God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham, but the new Israel will be comprised of more than those with a birthright. All who accept the gratuitous gift of God and respond in the way Jesus taught will comprise the new Israel. The canticle could have been a prayer of the early Church used before the Gospel was written and theologically adapted by Luke to explain the greater meaning of the Incarnation.
Almighty God, grant us the grace to fully experience the joy of the incarnation of your beloved Son, and to truly understand the extent to which you went to reconcile mankind to yourself. Help us to be worthy of such a great sacrifice by our words and our deeds so that we may rise to eternal life when our temporal work is done. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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