1 SM 1:24-28
1 SAMUEL 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8ABCD
LK 1:46-56
The readings today highlight God attending to the cry of the lowly. In both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel, the lowly in these readings are the hearts of two women--Hannah and Mary. Both women rejoice in a fulfilled promise. Hannah prayed in the temple incessantly and promised her first born to be offered back to God. After Hannah’s prayer was answered, she gives Samuel back to the temple which represents God.
Mary also rejoices in a promise which she was likely still contemplating and praying through. Her song, the Magnificat, is prayed daily in the Liturgy of Hours. We are reminded of this mystery which she first sung to Elizabeth, whose heart met Mary’s in prayer, body, and experience.
The faith these women lived was actualized in the nitty gritty of their daily lives. It is easy to look at these stories and believe they are somehow different from our experiences. Hannah’s hope was fulfilled after a long, faithful waiting. Elizabeth also waited for most of her life to bear John the Baptist to the world. And her own husband struggled to believe God’s promise. Mary was likely perplexed and tentative, and yet as she listened to Elizabeth call her blessed, she rejoiced and sang: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
What great things will you allow God to do for you during this Advent and Christmas season. Do you believe what you are hoping for in the deepest recesses of your being will be fulfilled? Most of us do not know exactly what it is we are hoping to find. Still, the God who created us fully knows who we are to be. With Mary, let us sing our own Magnificat, expecting God to fulfill our desires in ways that outwit, surprise and delight us.
The poem below was inspired by Mary’s song which I wrote this last October. I pray you will also find a way to sing with Mary her song this Christmas season.
Magnificat
Mary’s song they say
was inspired by the LOVE
she had for God.
Did she cry out poetically
or was she enraptured in
LOVE’s kiss?
Was her heart so open
to allow God
license to
Speak
Sing
Dance
and LOVE
through her?
How might this radical
openness
change our hearts
this time?
Where O my heart
do you shut out
Divine Love?
Recreate my flesh and bone
sinew and thought
to be
Your OWN.
Open my hard, rough,
broken, bruised spaces
and sing once more
Her song, Your song…
Through Me.
(By Christy Hicks on Oct. 1, 2018)
Christy Hicks is the Campus Minister in Grand Hall.
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