Hope

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said: “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 forever.” Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Luke 1:39-56)

Sometimes we wonder if Mary’s pronouncement, as told to us by Luke, is true.  Has God really scattered the proud in their conceit?  Has God cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly?  Has God filled the hungry with good things, and the rich God has sent away empty?  

I suspect most of what Mary said, or what Luke believed she said, is more about hope.  We hope our efforts – personal, communal, and governmental – will accomplish those objectives.  If so, then we will have done great things for the Almighty, and holy will be our names.  

However, we still realize that the mighty on their thrones are not easily cast down, if they ever can be displaced in favor of the lowly.  Life sometimes is more like a plot from the Game of Thrones with the mighty calling the shots and fighting amongst themselves for power and glory.  The lowly are tread upon.  

Mary’s Magnificat is our repeated mantra reminding us to fight for what is right and just and not to surrender to forces more in line with evil rather than good. 

Deacon David Pierce