Isn't it Magnificent?

I want to share with you a reflection on the Magnificat that a good friend recently shared with me. Ted and Elaine are the two people I hope to imitate my marriage after one day. They are a couple that has been married for 50 years and went on the pilgrimage I was on to the Holy Land in May, and we have been good friends since. I could write a whole post on them, but what Ted shared with me was too cool not to write about!

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” This is how the prayer starts out. It is taken directly from the beginning of Luke’s Gospel right after Elizabeth greets Mary after her long journey in the hill country and is one of the few times we ever hear Mary speak. For me, this account took on a whole new meaning when I visited the Church of the Visitation in Ein Kerem near Jerusalem. It gave me chills when the Gospel was read and the words were slightly changed to read, “Mary set out and traveled to this hill country in haste…” Because we were actually in the hill country where Mary set out, the Gospel emphasized that this is the place!

Some of the plaques with the Magnificat in many languages .

Anyways, Ted had a great epiphany while standing in the courtyard of the church, which was surrounded by hundreds of beautiful ceramic plaques in all different languages of the Magnificat. He saw the English version and then the Latin near by and noticed an interesting comparison. The original Latin text reads, “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” which directly translates into, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” I told him I had noticed this difference before in the Italian version but never gave it much thought.

The word magnify apparently has a couple of different meanings. It can mean making things seem larger than they are, to exaggerate or intensify. But, how can we make God appear bigger than he is? Even if we could, it would be impossible because it implies that God is smaller than us and we can make him seem bigger. That obviously is not true because God doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need us to make Him feel better or make Him complete, but he made us out of His love. So what does it mean to magnify the Lord?

The archaic meaning of magnify is to extol or praise, such as it is doing in scripture. For our soul to praise the Lord is once again, easier said than done, and even seems impossible. Through ardent prayer and God’s grace, it is possible. But still, it’s not easy. In fact, continuing with Ted’s reflection, the next line that Mary says is, “and my spirit rejoices…” We must completely and fully give ourselves to God joyfully in order to imitate Mary. To magnify the Lord joyfully is such as big task and it seems that we have to do something “magnificent” in order to do so. How can we do that in the simple everyday happenings of our lives?

God will probably not ask any of us to carry His child like He did to Mary. This was a huge thing! It was a huge thing that carried a whole lot of burden and hardship with it too. It was never easy for Mary, especially towards the end of her Son’s life, to be the Mother of God. But she did it joyfully. Friday was the Memorial of the Exultation of the Cross, and it’s a good time to think of the burdens we have, no matter how small, and take them on joyfully.

This, as Ted said, is our life goal; to magnify the Lord joyfully as Mary did. The last email he sent me actually had the opening words of the Magnificat at the bottom of his signature. I know Ted is making this his new goal in life, and it challenges me to pick up my cross and carry it joyfully.


My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for He as looked with favor on His lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.

Church of the Visitation, Ein Kerem, Israel

He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of His arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly. 
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty. 

He has come to the help of His servent Israel
for He has remembered His promise of mercy,
the promise He made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.