THE ALMIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME

THE ALMIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to

Luke (1:46-56) a touching story of the mother of

Samuel pairs with Mary’s rejoicing over the

favours shown to her.

Mary’s Magnificat sums up the themes of the

gospel. On the one hand it is full of gratitude

and praise to the God of mercy.

This had been revealed on Sinai as the meaning

of the sacred name of God when God passed

before Moses crying, ‘The Lord, the Lord, God of

mercy and compassion, rich in kindness and

faithfulness’ (Exodus 34.6), a designation which

echoes countless times through the scriptures.

And yet at the same time the song is full of

tender reverence for the holiness of God, taking

its tone also from Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in

the Temple, when the Temple is filled with his

glory and Isaiah can feel only his own

unworthiness (Isaiah 6). God is so close and yet

so distant.

On the other hand Mary’s song is redolent of

God’s special love for the hungry and the

powerless.

This is apparent in all the Gospels, but

especially in Luke, who is writing to remind a

richer audience of their obligations. He stresses

the poverty of the surroundings of Jesus’ birth,

of the shepherds who first come to reverence

him, the baby’s own refugee status.

His beatitudes focus not (as Matthew’s) on

Christian attitudes and motivations, but on the

grinding poverty of those who don’t know where

their next meal is coming from. He remains

constantly aware of the dangers of wealth

(parables of the Rich Fool, or the Rich Man and

Lazarus) and the reversal of standards in God’s

evaluations.

Finally Luke carefully brings to mind that the

spearhead of the ‘Poor of the Lord’, who receive

the message in these Infancy Stories, are the

faithful is Israel, according to his mercy ‘to

Abraham and his descendants for ever.’