It's not that I'm trying to redeem October, Lord knows, but while I waited for my new tires, I read the only book I could find in my car, Wills's The Rosary.

Of The Visitation, he writes,

"Just as Elizabeth wonders that Mary 'should come to me,' John will wonder that Jesus 'should come to me' for baptism. The humility of Mary's approach to Elizabeth will be repeated in Jesus' humble approach to John at the river Jordan.

Mary is greeted as a victorious Jewish heroine by Elizabeth, who repeats the biblical greetings to Jael and Judith, women who slew enemies of Israel. Deborah proclaims at Judges 5.24: 'Blessed among women be Jael.' And Judith's father says: 'Blessed are you among all women on earth' (Judith 13.18). This is also like Moses' blessing on an observant Israel: 'Blessed is the fruit of your body' (Deuteronomy 28.4). Mary is an embodiment of the Christian people, of its triumph over death, so she sings a victory song based on the Hebrew canticles.

Augustine admonishes us that we cannot 'magnify' God, make him any greater than he is. All we can do is open our hearts to an increased awe and love, to take in more of that greatness, to 'hold him in awe' as Mary says.

Some scholars think the Magnificat was originally a Hebrew poem given a Christian use. But Fathers Brown and Fitzmyer think it is a Christian poem that Luke puts in Mary's mouth to show that the church speaks through her, its symbol and embodiment. Mary takes her place in the long line of Jewish women who heroically stood up for their people. We pray to her and with her, as and in the church that we and she are.

tags technorati : garry wills the rosary