God has Done Great Things

by Lisa Hirsch on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

When I hear the Magnificat, the humility and love with which Mary praises God jars me from my complacency. This time of preparation before Christmas can so easily be a busy time of finishing work and school, decorating, baking, sending cards, and buying gifts. I can get caught up in the commercialism and the superficial preparations. I can begin to think that if I don’t get it all done, Christmas won’t be what I want it to be. Then I hear Mary say “The Mighty One has done great things for me” and I stop in my tracks. I begin to remember the great things that God has done for me - the people in my life, the teachers and mentors in school, work and faith, the beauty of creation, and the list goes on and on. Great things have been done for me.

Then Mary’s words jar me further. God’s might has “dispersed the arrogant” - is that me thinking I am responsible for whether or not Christmas comes off the way it is expected? But Mary keeps going, talking of God throwing down rulers, lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. Whew! Is all my buying and baking and rushing around honoring the God that Mary is praising in this song? From Mary’s words, I am reminded that God is the One who remembers his promise - to redeem, to have mercy, to love, always siding with the poor and lowly who are often forgotten in our rush to prepare for His Son’s birth. The Son who will later show us how to reach out to those on the margins with healing, forgiveness, acceptance and hope. It is no coincidence that Jesus came to us through a humble young woman and was born in a simple manger. Emmanuel - God with us - is always inviting us to reach out in mercy and love, to give healing and hope to those who are poor and lowly in our own world. This is how our souls might magnify the Lord. May Advent be the time when we more clearly hear this invitation and find ways to act on it.

Questions for Reflection:

What great things has The Mighty One done for you? Give praise to God for those things.

How might the God who sides with the poor be calling you to reach out in mercy and love to those who are poor or lowly in some way during this Advent? How might this be part of your preparations for the birth of Christ?

-Lisa Hirsch is the Social Justice Ministry Assistant at St. Mary Student Parish.