The Songs of Hannah and Mary

Homily for Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Yesterday, the Scriptures asked us to join with Zephaniah, David, and Elizabeth as they exulted with joy in the creative power of God. Today, our attention focuses on two more women, Hannah and Mary. With them, we also sing of the joy that is brought about by the fulfilled promises of God.

I am sure that most of you are familiar with the story of Hannah, one of several women in the Hebrew Scriptures who has been declared as barren by her neighbors. While visiting the Temple, she asked God to lift this reproach from her life. God heard her prayer, and she conceived a son. She returned to the temple and sang a song that tells the world just what God did. God turns expectations upside down: the power of the mighty is broken, the weak are strengthened, and the barren give birth to many children. Her song becomes our responsorial this morning. However, it is quite obvious that St. Luke used this song and puts the words in the mouth of the Blessed Mother as she too sings of promises fulfilled. Like her ancestor Hannah, Mary sings of how God confounds the wisdom of this world and exalts the lowly and brings low the arrogant. It is almost comforting to realize that the singing of this Canticle by Christians has at times in our history been considered subversive by repressive regimes. It confirms that Christ’s coming and teaching can have a powerful impact even in the present. Mary’s Canticle as well as that of Hannah do not look to the future for the fulfillment of God’s promises. They both sang of how God acts in our present world.

The coming of Christ should, in practice, herald the introduction of concern for the lowly and the hungry of our world. Whether it does that or not, of course, depends on our willing cooperation with God’s desire for justice and compassion. Class hatred, racial prejudice, and selfishness, whether religious or political, should not expect or find support among those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Our God comes to confuse the proud, depose the mighty, and raise up the lowly. Through our own actions, we make God’s promises real in our present world.