Solidarity with the Marginalized and Powerless

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption.  Although the Assumption of Mary is not one of the events that draws me most closely, I am moved by the Gospel reading for today's feast, which includes the passage we know as the Magnificant (also called the Song of Mary of the Canticle of Mary).  Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the Magnificat "the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings; this is the passionate, surrendered, proud, enthusiastic Mary who speaks out here. This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols. It is instead a hard, strong, inexorable song about collapsing thrones and humbled lords of this world, about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind.”

The Magnificant is a message of hope, one desperately needed in the world in which we live today.  But it is not a passive hope.  As I wrote on my blog this morning: "Mary’s song reminds us that we can never ignore the suffering of others if we are to be true disciples of Jesus. In the increasingly individualistic world in which we live, where there sometimes seems to be less and less willingness to reach out to others, Mary’s proclamation stands as a testimony to solidarity with the marginalized and the powerless. It calls us not to passive hope, but to action." 

You can find my full reflection on the Magnificat and its meaning for our world today here.