The Second Prevenient Mystery
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
I mistakenly mentioned in the last post in this series that the next mystery would be the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Well we can’t have the Presentation before the Nativity, now can we?
As mentioned in the previous posts about these Prevenient Mysteries, most of the information we have regarding Mary’s early life is from the Protoevangelium of James.
The following is what is written regarding Mary’s birth:
“And on the following day he ( Joachim, the Blessed Mother’s father) brought his offerings, saying in himself: If the Lord God has been rendered gracious to me, the plate on the priest’s forehead will make it manifest to me. And Joachim brought his offerings, and observed attentively the priest’s plate when he went up to the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself. And Joachim said: Now I know that the Lord has been gracious unto me, and has remitted all my sins. And he went down from the temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his own house. And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife: What have I brought forth? And she said: A girl. And said Anna: My soul has been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, and gave the breast to the child, and called her name Mary.”
And Anna said, “My soul has been magnified this day”. Sound familiar? Her daughter would use a similar line in her own Magnificat - “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” (Luke 1:46, Douay-Rheims translation).
We have probably heard the word Magnificat many times and relate it to Mary’s response to her visit from Gabriel the Archangel during which she conceives our Lord in her womb. The word Magnificat is Latin for the word magnify. In both conceptions, of Mary and our Lord, their mothers exclaim that God has magnified their souls. In their joy feel as though God has increased the size of their souls, probably exponentially.
Pondering this I remembered when I made an 8-day silent retreat where a wonderful Redemptorist spiritual director, Brother Renatus Frodenhauer, led me on a journey through the exercises of St. Ignatius. Toward the end of the 8 days Br. Renatus had me write my own Magnificat. I remembering struggling at first because I am not a poet. But I was able to put together a number of lines explaing what God had done form and how He had magnified my own soul. That was over 15 years ago and I belive God continues to magnify my soul.
As you reflect on the birth of our Blessed Mother, perhaps it would be a good time to reflect on our own lives and look at the ways God has magnified our souls and ask for the grace to have them magnified even more.
Next Week: The Third Prevenient Mystery - The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Yesterday - 11/21/23 and the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Mother- I celebrated the 26th anniversary of my consecration as a Knight of the Immaculata. Would you consider becoming a Knight? It is open to men and women!