Mary’s Revolutionary Song of Hope and Joy

As we approach the last Sunday in the season of Advent, I am sure that many of you are up to your eyeballs in Christmas preparations. Hopefully during Advent, you have been able to take some time to be still amid the rush of this commercialized time of year. I would like to say that I have done that myself, but sadly, those moments have been fleeting and few. 

The reading from Luke for the fourth Sunday of Advent is the song of Mary otherwise known as the “Magnificat.” Mary’s song has been banned in some countries because of its revolutionary challenges (He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. — Luke 1:52-52). It was celebrated as an offering of hope to the poor by Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary hymn ever sung.” 

I find myself longing for the revolution of love that Mary offers in the midst of so much pain and so many struggles both for me personally and in the world at large. It appears I needed to sit with Mary once more. She has companioned this Presbyterian Padre along this journey many times and I am sure she will continue to do so. 

I used this quote from Thomas Merton for the Fourth Sunday in Advent bulletin: In sadness, discouragement and loneliness, Advent offers JOY – the joy of salvation, the joy of new life, the joy of earth as it is in heaven (from his book Seasons of Celebration). My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you might find joy and hope in the midst of it all this last week of the Advent season and every day of the year.