Mary’s Magnificat as a Prolegomena for Confrontational Christian Living

Whether studied from the point of view of theology, spirituality, or culture, the Galilean woman called Mary, has been interpreted and explained, presented and understood, imagined and rejected, loved and honoured in many ways so diverse as to be impossible to codify. No doubt, thus, there has been a plasticity of her image that has encouraged us to create widely differing Marian signs, symbols, and theologies in relation to spiritual and social needs.

In the text of Luke's Gospel (1vvs.43-55), we find Mary's proclamation of the Good News of God’s redemptive justice-by anticipation. She does so as a woman whose conciousness is deep in the heirtage and wisdom of the strong women of lsrael. Knowledgeable about the liberating traditions of her own people and heralding them with tough authority, Mary is distiquished as a prohet of the coming age.

It is not just that God often chooses unconventional people for a mission, not just that Mary is among the inconsequential poor of the earth, like illiterate women in any poor village on this hemisphere. It is the combination of that is revolutionary: God has regarded her lowliness. Such that, though socially insignificant, Mary is highly favoured; though endangered, yet God is with her; though impoverished, at times homeless, yet blessed; an unconventional woman, yet God did great things for her; though she knew sorrow enough to break a human spirit, yet she experiences the coming of God in the suffering of bringing life.