"My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” (Luke 1:46).
There is a beautiful prayer that the Blessed Virgin prayed when she was praised for being the Mother of God – the Mother of the long-awaited Messiah…
“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him From generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, And exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; And the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath holpen His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy; As He spake to our fathers, To Abraham, and to His seed for ever.” (Luke 1:46-55).
And I have deliberately reproduced the prayer in the “old English” form, rather than the modern wording, because it is such a beautiful prayer that I feel like speaking it in modern English reduces the poetry and beauty – the specialness – of the prayer. You see, the Blessed Virgin so easily praised the Lord in everything that she did and she so easily reflected any praise back to God Himself, that one could be mistaken for failing to realise just how beautiful that is.
And upon reflection today, it seems that I spend an awful lot of time accepting praise and blessings and flattery – and very little time at all thanking God for what He has done.
The Blessed Virgin was the ONLY creature ever made who actually had the right to be a little proud of herself. After all, she was a soul who despite living in a sinful, fallen world, was able to withstand temptation to the point where she did not commit even one tiny little venial sin. Eve – who was created in the Garden of Eden and who had advantages that the Blessed Virgin could only dream of – was tempted by the serpent and succumbed to that temptation. And that was one little temptation. Even there – with just one temptation – Eve was unable to resist and rely on her own discipline and self-control…
And I do not criticise Eve for this – after all, as a daughter of Eve I am even less strong and even more sinful than she is… But I do take this moment to reflect on the thankfulness of the Blessed Virgin. There she was – saying YES to whatever the Lord asked of her and then – when people commented on how wonderful she was for doing that (and she absolutely and irrefutably was wonderful), the Blessed Virgin responded by being thankful to God…
And I have been reflecting on that today as I go about my day, because I am clearly not thankful enough!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.