Author Topic: Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord" (Read 1194 times)

Lorenzo · « **on:** November 28, 2011, 07:03:43 AM »

Blessed Virgin Mary, who, while pregnant with Jesus, travels to see her cousin Elizabeth who is at the time pregnant with John the Baptist.

As soon as Mary approaches, John the Baptist, inside Elizabeth, jumps for joy because he knows that he is in the presence of the Son of God!

Elizabeth knew it, too, and of course was the first to call Mary the Mother of God.

Upon Elizabeth's arrival, Mary proclaimed the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56):

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on 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,
he 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 has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

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Lorenzo · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2011, 07:07:15 AM »

Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is nothing else but waste and weariness. But it may be that God has sent us there because but for us Christ would not be there. If our being there means that Christ is there, that alone makes it worthwhile. ... It is not necessary at this stage of our contemplation to speak to others of the mystery of life growing in us. It is only necessary to give ourselves to that life, all that we are, to pray without ceasing, not by a continual effort to concentrate our minds but by a growing awareness that Christ is being formed in our lives from what we are. We must trust him for this; because it is not a time to see his face, we must possess him secretly and in darkness, as the earth possesses the seed. We must not try to force Christ's growth in us, but with a deep gratitude for the light burning secretly in our darkness, we must fold our concentrated love upon him like earth, surrounding, holding, and nourishing the seed. We must be swift to obey the winged impulses of his love, carrying him to wherever he longs to be: and those who recognize his presence will be stirred, like Elizabeth, with new life. They will know his presence, not by any special beauty or power shown by us, but in the way that the bud knows the presence of the light, by the unfolding in themselves, a putting forth of their own beauty.

Caryll Houselander (1901-1954), The Reed of God, p. 77

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Author Topic: Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord" (Read 1194 times)

Lorenzo

Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord"

Lorenzo

Re: Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord"