Lk 1:46-56
46Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;/ 47my spirit rejoices in God my savior./ 48For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;/ behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed./ 49The Mighty One has done great things for me,/ and holy is his name./ 50His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him./ 51He has shown might with his arm,/ dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart./ 52He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones/ but lifted up the lowly./ 53The hungry he has filled with good things;/ the rich he has sent away empty./ 54He has helped Israel his servant,/ remembering his mercy,/ 55according to his promise to our fathers,/ to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”/ 56Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
MAGNIFICAT: Most Bible scholars today hold that the Magnificat, Mary’s canticle, was not done by Mary. It was clearly composed in Greek, and not a translation from Hebrew. It is unlikely that such finished poetry could have been composed on the spot by an ordinary Galilean girl. So the canticle is held to have been written by the evangelist Luke to accompany his narratives. But there are lines in the canticle that are awkward when applied to the situation of Mary who is the speaker. So scholars theorize that the canticle was not a pure Lucan composition; he probably got it from the Jewish Christian Anawim, the “poor ones” who relied on the Lord for their salvation. These recognized that in Jesus God has raised them up and saved them according to his promise. Luke sees Mary as their representative and spokesperson and so lets her vocalize their sentiments, retouching the original song to suit Mary’s condition.
As it stands, the Magnificat echoes Old Testament traditions in which men and women sang praise to God for his mighty deeds in behalf of his people Israel. In style and in thematic parallels, it is similar to the Song of Hannah in 1 Sm 2:1-10. Both Mary and Hannah are called “handmaids of the Lord” and both acknowledge that God’s purpose will be achieved through the birth of their respective children. Other comparable songs are the Song of Moses (Ex 15:1-18), the Song of Asaph (1 Chr 16:7-36), and the songs of praise in the book of Psalms (Pss 33, 47, 136).
Structurally, the Magnificat has three parts: the introduction in which Mary proclaims the Lord’s greatness and
recognizes him as her Savior, the body which gives the motives of praise (God’s saving deeds), and the conclusion which recapitulates some of the motives and rehearses the availability of God’s mercy in every generation.