MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD

V/​ I will turn to you O God, 

R/​ to God who gives joy to my youth

V/​ Give me the Wisdom that sits by your throne; 

R/ that I may be counted among your children

Lord, in your all-providential plan, you have led me to this moment to rediscover me in your Word and Wisdom. Aid me to make this time of meditation and prayer enriching, transforming, and liberating for my well-being and others. Amen!

MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD

By Dr. Iva Beranek

Feast of the Visitation

Zephaniah 3:14-18; Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 1: 39-56

31st May 2025

Time and again, God shows us that He is the God of the impossible. He is the one who brings joy amid suffering and the one who brings life into unexpected places. We are all familiar with the gospel story when Mary went to a Judean town in the hill country where she entered the house of Zachariah and greeted as Elizabeth.

This was not a mere greeting of two devout women but a greeting appointed by God and an encounter filled with the Holy Spirit. Visitation of Virgin Mary to Elizabeth is the second joyful mystery of the Rosary and yet this joy we are called to meditate upon is not devoid of difficulties. Mary didn’t have answers of how her future would pan out and often we do not either but her contemplative attitude helped her to see the act of God in her life.

The encounter of Mary and Elizabeth reveals to us that it is precisely this act of God out of which all true joy comes. Together with Mary, we are called to cultivate a contemplative outlook on life so that we too can see our life through the lens of God’s mercy and our encounters as places where the Holy Spirit dwells. Our Lady is a God-bearer in the truest sense.

In the gospel of Luke we read when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb and why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me through the power of the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth proclaims Mary to be the mother of God. Mary’s response is humble and completely centred on God.

She gives glory to the Almighty in her Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

Through our baptism we also become God-bearers though differently than Mary. Wherever we go we can carry Jesus and every encounter with others can become a visitation. Are we aware of this invitation? There are certainly times that we fail to be God-bearers.

For those times, God gives us the grace of another encounter, the sacrament of confession. A few times during confession a priest told me to pray my favorite prayer as a penance. In that context I often chose Magnificat because it reminded me that while I remained small God’s mercy was with me.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote to a seminarian who was about to be ordained a priest. She told him with the Virgin you can sing your Magnificat and live with joy in God your Saviour, for the Almighty is doing great things in you and his mercy is eternal. What is your Magnificat? Who are the people and what are the places that reveal God to you in a special way? Where have you experienced God in your midst? Reflect on these questions and write down Magnificat in your own words.

May you rejoice in God your Saviour, for he is doing great things for you.