My home parish is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. A side effect of the English Reformation is a lot of the Marian feasts and devotions suffered gravely during the swings back and forth on the spectrum from Catholic to Protestant, so only a few feasts remained and no devotions until their revival in the 19th Century. The one Feast that was specifically hers and not tied to the life of Jesus per se was the Assumption on August 15, and it was retained because of its conforming to the pattern of observing a saint's day on the anniversary of their death. Since then, those Anglicans/Episcopalians who desired a revival of devotion to Mary as the Mother of Our Lord brought back (unofficially) various feasts and devotions like the Rosary, but the one official feast is the 15th of August. So as our patronal festival we both observed it on the day and this Sunday, within the 8 day period called the octave.
The Gospel chosen for this commemoration should be familiar to many. It is the song of praise uttered by Our Lady when she first visited her cousin Elizabeth, already well along in her own miraculous pregnancy. It is a prophetic utterance, hearkening back to the prophetic praise uttered by Hannah, mother of the Prophet Samuel, when she fulfilled her vow to gift her firstborn to service to God (1 Sam. 2.1-10). Like Hannah's song, Our Lady's song expressed her wonder and praise of God who would choose so humble a vessel to effect such a mighty work in the history of Israel, indeed the whole world. The song expresses how God looks out for the lowly, the oppressed, the hungry, the poor, in fulfillment of His promises.
It is a very subversive song. If we are paying attention, any of us with wealth, influence, means, and who do not go hungry should feel pierced to the quick. Some governments have actually forbidden the reading or use of this song, fearing its influence on a population they wish kept under their thumb. All in all, it tells us that not only does not God care if we are rich and powerful, but that if we are then we are answerable for it.
Perhaps that is why Marian devotion is so popular among the poor and oppressed and out of favour with the developed, the wealthy, and the influential. The woman who at Cana said, "Do whatever he tells you," (Jn. 2.5) also sang that God would scatter the proud, put down the mighty, and send the rich away empty. (Lk. 1.51-53) Perhaps we should heed her as we do any of the Prophets and do God's manifest will: uplift and dignify the lowly, restore the oppressed, and feed the hungry. Perhaps those of us who have need to pay more attention to her prophecy and use our resources to bring comfort with those without rather than pad our own nests. That is the true message here. In her life and death, Mary the Mother of God points to her Son and tells us to do, "Whatever he tells you," no matter how uncomfortable that makes us.
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