HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT (1)
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT
HOMILY THEME: MARY ‘S MAGNIFICAT!
BY: Fr. Benedict Agbo
HOMILY: * 1Sam 1 : 24 – 28, Lk 1 : 46 – 56.
Thanksgiving is the sublime mark of spirituality. It is a humble appreciation of the goodness and greatness of God. When we are so full of ourselves, we cannot praise God. Today’s readings present us with Hannah and Mary’s magnificats. In Hannah and Mary’s magnificats we see humility personified in praise and thanksgiving for God’s miraculous intervention and elevation in their lives.
Mary’s magnificat contains the highest emotive quality of praise : ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’. Hannah’s magnificat showcases a different anthropology but the same pattern : ‘My heart exalts in the Lord, my strength is exalted in my God’, 1Sam 2 : 1-8. Both present a clear articulation of thanksgiving to God for elevation in their existential status.
Mary teaches us in prayer to acknowledge the 3 greatest attributes of God : His MIGHT, His HOLINESS and His MERCY. God’s might, according to Mary could scatter the proud and the rich and exalt the lowly, feed the hungry and send the rich away empty. She prophesied exactly what her son Jesus would do. God’s holiness is manifested through his mighty deeds of redemption. Mary was the first Christian to recognize the holiness of the Messiah. Later the apostles would continue harping on that motif, Act 3 : 14. The Angel revealed to her that the child that she would conceive would be called holy, Lk 1 : 35. Mary also acknowledges in her magnificat the new covenant in Jesus as a manifestation of God’s endless mercy from generation to generation given to all those who fear him. We have a lot to learn from Mary – young in age but theologically advanced. Covenant theology is one aspect of theology we need to study more today in order to understand how God keeps his covenant pacts with men, families and people of God. May her MAGNIFICAT become for us a sample prayer for praise worship.
May God bless you today!
FR BEN AGBO.
