Transformative Generosity
The Third Sunday of Advent
Reflection By Wendy Claire Barrie
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
- Luke 1:46-55
For as long as I can remember, I have loved Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Christmas Eve I was five, I came home from church, made my little brother put on his bathrobe, plopped a dish towel on top of his head, and brought him into the living room, where I draped a crocheted Afghan over my own head, swaddled my doll in a flannel blanket, and laid her on a sofa cushion between us. Before I understood Mary’s song, I knew that hers was a story I would want to hear and tell again and again.
In time, I learned to sing and pray Mary’s song, the Magnificat, it became foundational to my faith, and I no longer recognized Mary of the Christmas cards and carols, meek and mild. Instead, I saw a young woman of exuberance and courage. The Magnificat is at once deeply personal and undeniably communal. She gives thanks to God for the upside-down blessing given to her—that she, young, poor, unmarried, will be the mother of God’s own child—and for God’s transforming love and power. To magnify is to enlarge, and that is what Mary’s song challenges us to do—to enlarge our vision of who is blessed, of whom God acts in and through. Mary emboldens us to look beyond what is and see what God intends, the world as it should be, a world of justice and mercy, infused with hope. This is no gentle lullaby, but a fierce anthem, and it seems to me that Mary’s song shows us Jesus is every bit his mother’s son as he is his Father’s. In gratitude and in anticipation may we join in her song, and in the good, long work God gives us of turning this world around, one right action at a time.