May 31
The Visitation
y soul magnifies
the Lord, and my spirit exults in God my Savior. How charmingly and
beautifully Mary sings in response to her older cousin! How devoutly and
humbly she turns the praise from herself to God the giver of all gifts!
It is as if she were saying: Elizabeth, my cousin, you extol me, but I
do not extol myself; rather, for all that you have said my soul magnifies
the Lord. You said that your child exulted in your womb when I spoke;
my spirit exults with joy beyond measure in God my Savior. You
call me blessed because you are not the first or the only one to praise
me; rather henceforth all generations will call me blessed: the
children of our children, and those born of them in turn.
But why will they call me blessed? For my merits? No, but out of regard
for God, because the Most High has looked upon the lowliness of his
handmaid. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed,
and rightly, justly so, for he who is mighty has done great things for
me. I acknowledge the favor and claim no greatness of my own. I am
indeed great, not of myself, however, but because he who is mighty has
done great things for me.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
