The First Christmas Carol?

Reflection

Mary’s Canticle, often called the Magnificat, is perhaps the first Christmas Carol. It is a song of pure joy in the magnificence of God and his ways among us.

The angel had told Mary that Elizabeth, in her old age, was also expecting a child. So, while pregnant herself, Mary took the arduous journey to visit her cousin. There was a generational difference between these two women. Mary had just come of childbearing age, and Elizabeth was, no doubt, well past it. Their ages probably differed by 40 or more years.

When Mary arrived at her cousin’s home, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy: the Holy Spirit came over the older woman who spoke these words: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:42b–45).

These were reassuring words for a girl who was beginning an extraordinary and difficult journey. Mary broke out in a song of praise to God, a prayer that has been prayed for more than two thousand years by Christians in all parts of the globe. “My soul glorifies the Lord,” she sang,  “and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Why did she respond in this way? Certainly not because she was great in the eyes of the world; she was insignificant—but she was a young woman filled with faith in God.

God deserved her honor and praise: the almighty alone does great things because he and only he is holy. Her God is merciful and mighty, and his ways are not ours. God scatters the proud and deposes kings, but he lifts up and exalts the humble. God feeds the poor and helps them, and aren’t we all poor as we stand before him? The rich are those who think they don’t need God because they can rely on themselves; they are the ones who are truly poor, empty, and alone.

God is a promise keeper: he kept the promises he made to Abraham, he kept the promises he made to Mary, and he will keep the promises he has made to us. To Martha, grieving at her brother’s tomb, Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25b–26a). This was the promise Mary’s son came to make; he went on to ask Martha, and through her, us: “Do you believe this?” (John 11:26b).

Now, that is a promise to sing about! May all of our souls magnify our saving and live-giving Lord! May our spirits rejoice in Jesus, our Lord and Savior. God is with us.