Advent, 22nd December, Friday
1 Sam 1:24-28 / Luke 1:46-56
But Samuel's mother, Hannah, had great faith in God. and the Era of the Kings. Two books of the Bible bear his name. Samuel anointed Israel's first king. From that line of kings came Jesus, the King of Kings. Samuel's birth bears a similarity to Jesus' birth. He too was born of a mother whose situation was such that people thought she couldn't bear children. She prayed that God would give her a son, and God heard her prayer.
Samuel grew up to give Israel leadership at a time when she needed it most. He served as a “bridge man” between the Era of the Judges
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How great is our trust in God? "Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD." Psalm 27:14
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Today is a celebration of thanks to the Lord, who does great things to humble people who trust in God. In the Old Testament Hannah gives thanks to God because he has given her a son. She dedicates him to God. Samuel will be a very great prophet of the Lord. And Mary, a young, humble, unassuming girl boldly sings out her joy and thanks to God who will upset the world’s values through Jesus, the Son to be born from her. With Hannah and Mary we sing out our joy and thanks to God.
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Put down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the downtrodden! This is the war-cry of revolution. Revolution doesn’t mean a change of fashion, it means a violent upheaval in society. Or as Mao Tse-tung wrote in 1927, “A revolution is not the same as inviting people to dinner, or writing an essay, or painting a picture…. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”What have those two gentle women, Mary and Elizabeth, in common with Mao Tse-tung, one of the world’s most heartless dictators? Revolution! But surely not violence? Yes, violence too; that’s the most obvious thing in both revolutions. The difference is that Mao inflicted violence on hundreds of millions of people, while John the Baptist and Jesus endured violence. And countless Christians have endured it through the centuries. Strangely, this kind of revolution goes on forever, while the other burns itself out in a few generations, or even sooner. The most radical revolutionary becomes a conservative on the day after the revolution—and more than a conservative, a dictator.
I misquoted the Magnificat at the beginning. Mary did not say, “Put down the mighty…” but “God has put down the mighty….” That is the greatest difference between the two revolutions. The number one disciple, Peter, had chosen the way of violence, he was already using his sword, when Jesus said, “Put your sword back into its scabbard” (Jn 18:11).
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Mary’s Magnificat describes God’s favours bestowed on her as an individual and on Israel as a nation. Marian devotion is belittled and protested against by many non-Catholics who accuse us of idol worship and of raising Mary to the status of a goddess. Mary never claimed any special status other than her lowliness, her humiliation in being a woman. But then she acknowledged the way God erased this lowliness and humiliation by selecting her for the most precious role of being the Mother of God. Besides, Jesus on the cross gave his mother to be the mother of all humanity. Today, while Mary continues to mother us through her intercession, we her children continue our devotion to her, fulfilling her prophecy: “…From now on all generations will call me blessed.” How convinced are we in our devotion to our Lady?
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Prayer
God of the little ones, with Mary we rejoice and give you thanks that you let Jesus Christ become one of us and let him bring us the dignity of your sons and daughters. May we live up to that dignity and to the joy that says that we are deeply loved by you. Like you, may we also learn to care for all that is little and brittle and bring your justice to the poor through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
