Advent Reflections on the Office Canticles (Part 2)

Zechariah’s song emphasized remembrance. It reflected on how the coming of the Lord was a grace of healing his people’s history from Abraham forward. Although it comes after the Magnificat in St. Luke’s Gospel, it comes as a kind of forerunner in our Office of Morning Prayer, sending us into our day with the expectation that the promise of the song will be fulfilled. That journey through the day is completed as we approach Evening Prayer. The Magnificat is a song of remembrance that completes the arcs initiated by the Song of Moses and Miriam in Exodus and the Song of Hannah in I Samuel. The Song of Mary is as much a martial song of victory as it is the song of a rejoicing beloved. But through it, too, the past is resolved into a constant present moment of God-with-us. It is a song that recognizes how Christ is now present among us, how all things are being made new, and how we are being redeemed.

Let’s consider the Song of Moses and Miriam for a moment. It comes about in Exodus 15 just after the Israelites cross the Red Sea and then watch the waters destroy the chariots of Pharaoh. Moses concludes his part of the song: “By the power of your arm, they will be as still as a stone–until your people pass by, Lord, until the people you bought pass by. You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.” Then Miriam sings the refrain: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” We can see here the thematic resonance with Mary’s Song: “He hath shown strength with His arm, He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.”

Then, in I Samuel 2, Hannah prays in thanksgiving for the gift of a child in her barrenness. Consider these words in particular: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.” Here we see a more obvious resonance with the Magnificat, but here we also clearly see again the martial imagery of the Exodus. It is significant to note both of these, because it is often the case that a song inaugurates a new season in the life of the covenant people. The Song of Moses and Miriam inaugurates the time of Israel as a nation freed from bondage. The Song of Hannah inaugurates the time of King David, which begins with the birth of the prophet Samuel. 

Let’s now consider the Song of Mary itself. The first movement is framed by the verb ‘to magnify.’ As Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord…for He that is mighty has magnified me, and holy is His Name.” While Zechariah began from the macrocosmic–of the God of his whole people–and then saw it come to bear on his particular family, Mary begins with what is happening in her. The God of Israel journeyed through His whole people’s history to be present there in the Temple with Zechariah. But for Mary, the God of her people was there within her. The Lord has magnified her and now she magnifies the Lord. This is the nucleus of the salvation of which Zechariah spoke. 

The second frame is in her attention to how all of the rest of humanity would regard her. As she says “all generations will call me blessed.” This does not just mean the future generations after her–though we often assume this. That would be to fix this moment too much in a flat, chronological order. What is happening here is good news for all people, full stop. All generations will call her blessed, and that means the past generations as well. But in return, the Lord’s mercy will go out from the Son in her womb and be upon “them that fear Him, throughout all generations.” Here we see the meeting place of past and future, of remembrance and anticipation. Past and future are met in that present moment, and that present moment would bear graciously upon both past and future. This is the effect that the presence of Jesus has on time. 

But the Magnificat is also a confident song that those who do not fear Him, those who will oppose Him and those He is with–they are already defeated. This language draws on the Song of Miriam in Exodus, who reflects how God has mightily overthrown the power of Pharaoh. In the Magnificat, though, the defeat of God’s opponents is global, universal. There is nothing to suggest a particular entity–some empire or tyrant or kingdom–in that sweeping victory. Rather, all adversaries are subjected just as all generations were blessed. This is not just in reference to enemies yet to come or to enemies already defeated. All those who reject Christ are, in that moment, declared to have their power broken.

The only reason we can pray the Magnificat with integrity is because the life of Christ is in us as a figure for how His life was within Mary. This is true because of the Eucharist, that action by which we ‘remember’ Him until He comes again. The Eucharistic prayers we offer lead us to receive Jesus in the Word and in Jesus in the Sacrament. He dwells in us and we are brought in that remembrance to be present with Mary and the mercy that she said would be upon all those who reverently receive the Lord. As Zechariah began to see life return again to the Temple as he offered incense, so with Mary we see a living temple consecrated by the life of God within her.

By receiving Him in the Sacrament, we participate in that moment of union. The Lord magnifies the soul of His handmaidens and servants and we magnify Him. To sing the Magnificat in our daily prayers calls us back to the moment we received Christ, individually and as a people. It declares victory over all the circumstances of life. It is the song that the Lord has already overcome all that can possibly afflict us. It is a song that warns of the ruinous effect of pride and the disaster that must always attend it. And it is a song that assures us of the faithful help we can expect to receive if we will receive Him with humility. As we sing the Magnificat each day, we gather in the whole day, that which has passed and that which remains. The lowest low and the hightest high–all things are able to be made present to the Lord in the Song of Mary, and from that present moment goes forth the redemption of all things.

We sing the song of Mary as our day begins to decline, a day that knew optimism and doubt, of aspiration and of the hard realities that our plans did not always come to pass. All of these are gathered together in that Song. The disappointments there can be relieved of their weariness, as surely as the successes can be emptied of their pride. Mary does not hesitate to allow all of this to happen through herself in union with her unborn Child when she sings. And she is given grace to do so on behalf of all of us so that, when we utter those words of the prayer, we are joining in her prayer, filled with the Spirit in the presence of Jesus Christ who lives within us.