The Magnificat (Latin: [My soul] magnifies) — also known as the Song of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung (or spoken) liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the 8 most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn.
The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:46-55) where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth.[1] In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with the future John the Baptist, the child moves within Elizabeth's womb. When Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith, Mary sings what is now known as the Magnificat in response.
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"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant" (Luke 1:46b-47; NRSV).
In this exultant verse from the opening chapter of Luke's Gospel, Mary joyfully responds to God's favoring her. And through Mary, God honors us, as all "those who fear him from generation to generation" (Luke 1:50).
The title "Magnificat" which means "my soul magnifies the Lord, are the daily struggles of Luke's people of faith. These people can be called the anawim, a Hebrew word used in the Old Testament to refer to the humble "Poor Ones," those who stayed faithful to God in difficult times. For Luke, Mary represents these anawim in his community and throughout the ages. In her Magnificat she sings of the freeing joy of God's redeeming activities in the midst of their struggles in the world.
But even more than a simple interweaving of warp and woof, Mary's Magnificat is a new woven fabric with an organic integrity of insight. Her tapestry's strands incorporate threads of ancient Israel's spirituality with the piety of Mary's contemporaries. This single rich tapestry is woven by the same liberating God—"the Mighty One" of Israel and of Mary, the Messiah of the Christian community.
This God consistently exhibits divine faithfulness and mercy in times past, through present crises and to all "those who fear him from generation to generation" (Luke 1:50). The powerful and enduring impact of Mary's Magnificat is generated by the interweaving between the formative and decisive events of ancient Israel's traditions and the transforming and defining endeavors of Luke's Jewish-Christian "Poor Ones." In a profound way, the synthesis was crafted in human endeavors well before our literary tapestry!
Mary's Magnificat, celebrated only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise/fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67-79); the angels' Gloria in Excelsis (2:13-14); and Simeon's Nunc Dimittis (2:28-32). In form and content, these four psalms are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology.
Adapted, edited and posted from internet resources.
The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:46-55) where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth.[1] In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with the future John the Baptist, the child moves within Elizabeth's womb. When Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith, Mary sings what is now known as the Magnificat in response.
-------
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant" (Luke 1:46b-47; NRSV).
In this exultant verse from the opening chapter of Luke's Gospel, Mary joyfully responds to God's favoring her. And through Mary, God honors us, as all "those who fear him from generation to generation" (Luke 1:50).
The title "Magnificat" which means "my soul magnifies the Lord, are the daily struggles of Luke's people of faith. These people can be called the anawim, a Hebrew word used in the Old Testament to refer to the humble "Poor Ones," those who stayed faithful to God in difficult times. For Luke, Mary represents these anawim in his community and throughout the ages. In her Magnificat she sings of the freeing joy of God's redeeming activities in the midst of their struggles in the world.
But even more than a simple interweaving of warp and woof, Mary's Magnificat is a new woven fabric with an organic integrity of insight. Her tapestry's strands incorporate threads of ancient Israel's spirituality with the piety of Mary's contemporaries. This single rich tapestry is woven by the same liberating God—"the Mighty One" of Israel and of Mary, the Messiah of the Christian community.
This God consistently exhibits divine faithfulness and mercy in times past, through present crises and to all "those who fear him from generation to generation" (Luke 1:50). The powerful and enduring impact of Mary's Magnificat is generated by the interweaving between the formative and decisive events of ancient Israel's traditions and the transforming and defining endeavors of Luke's Jewish-Christian "Poor Ones." In a profound way, the synthesis was crafted in human endeavors well before our literary tapestry!
Mary's Magnificat, celebrated only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise/fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67-79); the angels' Gloria in Excelsis (2:13-14); and Simeon's Nunc Dimittis (2:28-32). In form and content, these four psalms are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology.
Adapted, edited and posted from internet resources.
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