Magnifying Virtues

Reflection for the 4th Tuesday of Advent

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden” (Lk 1: 46-48).

After greeting Elizabeth, Mary sings a song called the Magnificat.  Since the early centuries, the song has been sung or said in by religious communities and others during Vespers.   It is featured in the liturgy a few days before Christmas. 

The name, Magnificat, comes from a Latin word that means ‘magnify’.  Later translations from the original Greek translate it other ways.  I like the earlier translations of ‘magnify’, it gives me a good visual. 

It reminds me of a magnifying glass my father used to examine the stamps in his collection.  On occasion, I would sneak it away to do my own examinations.  As a boy I would marvel at how it made things appear larger.  I also discovered (or I think my older brother showed me) how I could use the magnifying glass to focus the rays from the sun into one fiercely hot pinprick of light.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, the ants did not and probably wondered what was the source of this mysterious new death-ray.

That was then.  Now, I like the both types of magnification for more spiritual reasons.  When Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord”, she meant through her life she would make the work of the Lord larger and more visible.  She spent her life magnifying virtues of faith, hope, love to name a few. Humility being another.  Mary’s life also provided a focal point for the entire world to see.  The shepherds, for instance, wandering through the fields sensed the presence of God but nothing nearly as intense as what they felt upon gazing a the infant in the manger.  All of the diffuse actions of salvation history were focused into on brilliant point of light, the infant Jesus. 

When the monks and other sing “My soul magnifies the Lord,” they’re not just thinking that these words were meant for Mary, but for them.  “My” soul, not just Mary’s. Their job and ours is to magnify the Lord. 

Its an image I can work with in my encounters.  Magnify – meaning to make the gifts of the Lord larger – by loving deeply, sharing great optimism and hope, looking at the present challenges with the eyes of faith and enlarging the message that indeed God is in control.  I can magnify also by letting others know that life is not a set of random coincidences and one thing after another but intensely focused on God’s plan and purpose for my life and for the world.

Imagine yourself being the magnifying glass and let the works of the Lord be magnified through you.