“THE ALMIGHTY HAS done great things for me,” sang the Blessed Mother during her visitation to Elizabeth. On the Solemnity of the Assumption on August 15, the Church recalls and celebrates these great things the Almighty has done in the life of Mary and through her in the life of the Church. That’s why the Magnificat has become the thanksgiving hymn of the universal Church. People who have placed their trust in God, especially the poor and oppressed, who have no one else in the world to lean on, have often identified with the song by a poor, young, unmarried pregnant woman!
Mary sang her hymn of gratitude and joy not at a time when she was in the comfort and security of her family, but when she was most uncertain of her future. Her proposed marriage was at stake and she faced the ignominy of being pregnant out of wedlock. What else was required to cause a nervous breakdown for a teenager? What the Blessed Mother exhibits in the Magnificat is her stupendous reliance on God’s mighty providence.
The Solemnity of Assumption invites us to contemplate in Mary the triumph of the God of life. The nucleus of this feast is the solemn profession that the Lord will not abandon his beloved to decay in death. Through this solemnity, the Church reassures her children that God doesn’t remain impassive to the defeat of his beloved children who have his image imprinted on their faces.
Mary’s Magnificat is more than a hymn of thanksgiving, for us it serves as a creed that reiterates our faith in the divine plan. The Church’s Liturgy of Hours included the song in its daily prayer as a constant reminder to reassure ourselves of God’s concern and love for his “lowly servant.” All that it requires is the humility to surrender before the plan of God to witness the “great things the almighty” does in our lives.
He has shown the strength of his arm: The Lord’s powerful arm has created a new world in which every form of death is eliminated. This is the total victory of the love of the Lord that we celebrate today in Mary. This victory has not only been realised in her, but in every person, because God cannot abandon any of his sons or daughters to death.
He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones: The Mother Church continues to sing these verses aloud, for this is her life testimony. It is true that when principalities and ideologies of the world threaten her very existence, we her children, often succumb to fear and frustration. Like the disciples caught in the storm in the middle of the sea, we grow frightened and rue over the impending disasters. The storm in the sea explained the persecutions of the early Church, both by the Roman emperors and the Jewish religious leaders. For those on the boat, that is, the Church, Jesus was no longer visible and they believed that their end was imminent.
But the voice of Jesus penetrates the turbulent surroundings to console the doubting disciples: “Courage, it is I, do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). Let not our human weakness pull us back to despair, for notwithstanding the tempests and turbulence in the sea, Jesus’ boat cannot be sunk and it’s our turn to sing with Mary our magnificat. Jose, cmf
