Part ten, Chapter III: "my Soul Doth Magnify the Lord"

"my Soul Doth Magnify the Lord"

THE first verse contains only four latin words, Magnificat anima mea Dominum, but they are words imbued with great mysteries. Let us weigh them carefully and devoutly; let us consider them attentively, in a spirit of humility, piety and respect, in order that we may be inspired, like the Blessed Virgin, to magnify God for the great and marvelous things that He wrought in her and through her, on her behalf and for us as well.

Here is die first word: Magnificat. What does this word mean? What does it mean to magnify God? Is it possible to magnify one whose grandeur and magnificence are immense, infinite and incomprehensible? Not at all; such a thing is impossible-impossible for God Himself, Who cannot make Himself greater than He already is. We cannot magnify God, that is, make Him greater i n Himself, since His divine perfections are infinite and therefore cannot be increased in themselves, but we can magnify Him in ourselves. "Every holy soul," says St. Augustine, "can conceive the eternal Word within himself by means of faith. He can engender God in other souls by preaching the divine Word, Bud he can magnify His creator by loving Him so truly that he too may say: 'My soul doth magnify the Lord." (1) "To magnify the Lord," continues St. Augustine, "is to adore, praise and exalt His immense grandeur, His supreme majesty, His infinite excellence and perfections." We can magnify God in several ways: first of all, by our thoughts, having a most exalted idea of God and the highest esteem for Him as well as for all things of God; secondly, by our devotion, loving God with all our hearts and above all things; thirdly, by our words, always speaking with the most profound respect of God and all things pertaining to Him, and by adoring and praising His infinite power, His incomprehensible wisdom, His immense goodness and His other perfections; fourthly, by our actions, always performing them solely for the glory of God; fifthly, by practising what the Holy Spirit teaches us in these (1). Serm. de Assumpt.

words: "Humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God, for great is the power of God alone, and he is honoured by the humble." (2) In the sixth place, we can magnify God by willingly bearing the crosses that He sends us for love of Him; for there is nothing that honors Him more than suffering, since our Saviour found no means to glorify His Father more excellent than the torments and death of the Cross. Iast of all, we can magnify God by preferring and exalting Him above all things through our thoughts, affections, words, actions, humiliations and mortifications.

But alas! How often do we do just the contrary! Instead of exalting God, we lower Him; instead of preferring Him to all things, we prefer the creatures to the Creator; instead of preferring His Holy will, His interests, His glory and His happiness to our own will, interest, honor and satisfaction, we do just the opposite, putting Barabbas before Jesus.

Such is not thy behaviour, 0 holy Virgin I Thou didst always magnify God most highly and perfectly, from the first moment of thy life until the last. Thou didst always magnify Him most excellently by all thy thoughts, affections, words and actions, by the most profound humility, by the multitude of thy sufferings, by practising all virtue in a sovereign degree and by making saintly use of all the powers of thy soul and of all thine interior and exterior senses. In a word, thou alone hast glorified God more worthily and magnified Him more highly than have all other creatures combined.

We come now to the second word of our canticle, which is anima. "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Notice that the Blessed Virgin Mary does not say "I magnify," but "My soul doth magnify the Lord," in order to show that she magnifies Him from the utmost depths of her Heart and with her whole inner strength. Thus does she magnify Him not only with her lips and tongue, her hands and feet, but she also employs all the faculties of her soul-her understanding, memory, will and all the powers of the superior and inferior put of her soul, exhausting full inward and outward strength i n order to praise, glorify and magnify her God. She does not magnify Him exclusively in her own name, nor to discharge her infinite obligations because of the inconceivable favors that she has received from His divine bounty; she magnified God in the name of all creatures and for the graces that He has bestowed upon all men, since He became man in order to render men God-like and save the whole human race, if men will but cooperate with the designs of His inconceivable love for them. (2). Ecclus. 3, 20-21

Here is the third word: mea, "my soul." What is this soul which the Blessed Virgin calls her soul?

My first reply to this question is that I know a great author (3) who maintains that this soul of the Blessed Virgin is her Son Jesus Christ, the soul of her soul.

Secondly, I answer that these words, anima mea, refer first to the individual and natural soul which animates the body of the immaculate Virgin, and second, to the soul of the divine Infant Whom she is carrying in her womb, Who is so closely united with her own soul that their two souls, in a certain sense, form but a single soul. In the third place, these words, at;anima mea, "my soul," indicate and include all souls created in the image and likeness of God who have ever been are now and ever will be in the whole world. St. Paul assures us that the Eternal Father has given us all things i n giving us His Divine Son, (4) so there can be no doubt that, in giving Christ to His divine Mother, He thus gave her all things and therefore all souls belong to her. Mary is not unaware of this, and she also knows full well her sacred obligation to make use of everything that God has given her, for His honor and glory. Consequently, when Mary pronounces these words, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," considering all the souls of the past, present and future as souls who belong to her, she includes them all in order to unite them with the soul of her Son and her own soul, and in order to avail herself of every soul for praising, exalting and magnifying Him who descended from heaven and took flesh i n her own virginal bosom so that He might accomplish the great work of their redemption.

We come now to the last word of the first verse: Dominum, "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Who is this Lord whom the Blessed Virgin magnifies? It is He who is the Lord of lords, the sovereign and universal Lord of heaven and earth. This Lord is the Eternal Father; this Lord is the Son; this Lord is the Holy Spirit-three divine Persons who are but one God and one Lord, having but one single essence, power, wisdom, goodness and majesty. The most pure Virgin praises and magnifies the eternal Father for having associated her with His divine paternity by making her the mother of the very Son whose Father He is. She magnifies the Son of God for having deigned to choose her to be His Mother and Himself to be her true Son. She magnifies the Holy Spirit for having willed to accomplish in her the greatest of His works; that is, the adorable mystery (3). Vigerius, in suo Decachardo, chord. 7.--Cardinal mark Vigerius, a Franciscan, died at Rome i n 1516. (4). Rom. 8, 32.

of the Incarnation. She magnifies the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the infinite graces which They have granted to her and intend to bestow on all mankind.

Let us learn from this canticle that one of the principal duties required by God, and one of our greatest obligations towards His divine Majesty, is gratitude for His blessings, for which we must render thanks to Him with all our hearts and with most special devotion. Let us be eager, therefore, to imitate the glorious Virgin in her sublime thanksgiving, and to say frequently with her: "My Soul cloth magnify the Lord," in order to thank the Most Blessed Trinity, not only for all the graces that we have received, but also for all the blessings that Providence has ever bestowed on all creatures. And in saying the words anima mea, let us remember that the Eternal Father, in giving us His O nlybegotten Son, has given us all things, consequently the holy souls of Jesus and His divine Mother, together with all other souls in general, belong to us. For that reason we can and should profit by these souls for the glory of Him who has given them to us, through an ardent desire to praise and glorify God with our whole heart, our whole soul and all our strength. In these words we should include all the hearts and souls in the world, which are ours and which we wish to unite into one great heart and one single soul, to be employed to praise our Creator and Saviour. 283-