The Soul Of Mary Is An Image Of The Image
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Dec 22, 2022
- 7 min read
My soul magnifies the Lord. Can we really magnify God? God is perfect, complete: he can neither be added to nor taken away from. What does it mean then, for Mary to say that her soul magnifies the Lord? It means that the soul of Mary is an image of the Image, of Christ. In other words, Mary’s will is so perfectly aligned with the Lord that her soul magnifies the Lord because it is an image of him. How perfectly is our will aligned with God’s will? Does our soul magnify the Lord? Those are great questions to sit with as Advent draws to a close and we near the coming of our savior into the world.
Mary’s Song of Praise
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.” And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home. Luke 1 : 46-56
Scriptural Analysis – Background
We are now presented with the first of the Lukan canticles. Commonly known as the Magnificat (the first word of the Latin translation), Mary magnifies God for the blessings that have been bestowed upon her echoing the words of the Psalmist, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalms 34:3-4) Mary’s canticle, like the other canticles, serves as a sort of pause in Luke’s narrative: a chance to enter more deeply into the significance of the events that have been recounted. As a prophetic song, Mary recounts not only what has happened but looks forward to what will happen, what Jesus will unfold, and the reversal that is unfolding.
The Magnificat can be divided into two parts. In the first part, Mary focuses on her reasons for praising God. In the second half, Mary focuses on what God is doing for Israel. Stylistically, the canticle has features that are similar to the Psalms and Hebrew poetry. The first two verses use synonymous parallelism – my soul and my spirit, the Lord and God – twice to express the same idea with different words. This is an established pattern found in the Psalms, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalms 103:1) The second part uses antithetical parallelism to describe the reversal being worked, contrasting the rulers with the lowly, the humble with the rich.
Mary’s canticle is written in a style similar to many Old Testament verses. It very much echoes the canticle of Hannah uttered after Samuel was born:
“My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides thee; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones; but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.” 1 Samuel 2 : 1-10
Scriptural Analysis – The Magnificat
God looks upon Mary’s low estate (tapeinōsis). She refers to herself again as the handmaid. These words again echo Hannah before the birth of Samuel, “O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy maidservant, and remember me, and not forget thy maidservant, but wilt give to thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life.” (1 Samuel 1:11) Mary also announces that all generations will call her blessed. Thus when we called her the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are fulfilling scripture.
Mary uses titles for God that are familiar Old Testament titles. Savior and mighty one comes from Zephaniah. The motivation for Mary’s praise is the great things God has done for her personally which mirrors what was done for Israel during the Exodus, “He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen.” (Deutoreonmy 10:21) Mary acknowledges the holiness of God’s name echoing Ezekiel, “The sake of my holy name.” (Ezekiel 36:22)
Mary now turns to the mercy of God. The phrase, those who fear him, is intended to, especially, focus on the people of Israel who are in covenant with God, “He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.” (Psalms 111:5) However, this covenant will be expanded to include all God-fearing people.
Beginning with the second part, Mary recalls how God has shown his might. Her statements echo the book of Exodus, ”Error and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of thy arm, they are as still as a stone.” (Exodus 15:16) Now, in the fulfillment of the prophecies a new act of deliverance will take place, “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” (Isaiah 40:10)
God looking upon Mary’s lowliness is an example of how god lifts up the lowly of Israel. There is a great reversal at work. In a world that is dominated by Herod and Caesar, it is a child coming from the handmaid from Nazareth who will have the everlasting kingdom. Similarly, the Lord’s blessing will be upon those who fear him and not the arrogant: the hungry, not the rich, “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.” (1 Samuel 2:4)
As Mary is the handmaid, Israel is his servant whom he has helped. The phrase, remembering his mercy echoes the Psalms, “He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.” (Psalms 98:3) Mary’s role is situated within the overall plan of salvation history.
Daily Application
Mankind is made in the image and likeness of God, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) That does not apply just to our physical body but our soul as well. That means that our soul was intended to be an image of the divine. We are to reflect the divine in the world. However, because of original sin, our soul is stained. We also have to deal with concupiscence, the desire to sin.
However, Mary was Immaculately conceived, protected from the stain of original sin. That also means that she was not subject to concupiscence. Therefore, her soul was able to perfectly magnify the Lord. It was a pure image of the divine.
We are called to be like Mary but unfortunately, we suffer the effects of original sin. Even though at our Baptism, our soul is made clean, we still struggle with concupiscence and the desire to sin. Sin dirties our souls. It obfuscates the image of the divine in us.
One of the early Church fathers, Origen remarked:
Each one of us shapes his soul into the image of Christ and makes either a larger or smaller image of him. The image is either dingy and dirty, or it is clean and bright and corresponds to the form of the original. Therefore, when I make the image of the Image – that is, my soul – large and magnify it by work, thoiught, and speech, then the Lord himself is magnified in my soul, because it is an image of him. Homilies On The Gospel Of Luke 8.1-3
The more our will is aligned with the Lord the more our soul magnifies him. Sin pulls us away from the Lord and darkens the soul. As we near Christmas, take a moment and get to confession. Repent of your sins. Cleanse your soul of those things that darken it. Allow your soul to magnify God in the way that Mary’s soul did. Allow your life to echo her canticle.
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