22nd TUESDAY.DECEMBER ADVENT

1.1samuel1:24-28

2.Luke1:46-56

REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS ON THE READINGS

" The Canticle of Mary"

Anonymous priest once said in his homily that Mary's Magnificat ' is the most revolutionary in the world.' For the reason that:

First, Mary sings about a moral revolution in which God blesses the humble and lowly. Jesus said, " Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised!" ( Matt5:50). If a man sets his life against that of Christ, he will be humbled surely. Christ enables us to see ourselves for who we are that we are nothing! " Without me you can do nothing," He says to us.  

Second, Mary sings about social revolution in which God blesses the poor and the needy. Jesus said , " Blessed are you who are poor for the Kingdom of God is yours," ( Lk6:20). This is good news especially for us poor people. Why this so?

Catholic scholars coined the phrase ' God is preferential option for the poor' to describe the phenomenon they found throughout  both the Old and New testaments about God's partiality toward the poor and the disadvantaged. The question is that why God singled out the poor for special attention over any other group? why because:

1. The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption

2. The poor know not only their dependence on God and on powerful people but also their interdependence with one another.

3.The poor rest their security not on things but on people.

4.The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance and no exaggerated need of privacy.

When the poor have the gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not like a threat or a scolding.

Finally, Mary sings about economic revolution in which God blesses the hungry  and starving . Jesus said: Blessed are you who are hungry, for you will be satisfied." In a godless society, each man fends for himself. But for Christians, each one is his brother's keeper. We are to love and serve one another. ' For I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me......"

At the end let us remember that the people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money or the most awards. They are the ones that care.