The Gospel passage for this coming Third Sunday of Advent (December 14, 2014) is Mary’s song, or The Magnificat, so called  for the word with which it begins in Latin: (Magnificat anima mea Dominum)

^{Luke 1: 46} And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

This is not only the song of Mary, it is the song of the church. One can trace aspects of church and mission history by the different settings, styles, expressions and uses of Mary’s song. Here, for your enjoyment and preparation this Advent season, are some settings one can find of Mary’s Song online:

• In Gregorian plainchant of the Middle Ages
• and a medieval setting by Hildegard Von Bingen (12th C. Germany)
• by Renaissance composers, such as da Palestrina
• and Monteverdi
• in modern settings, such as John Rutter
• or by John Michael Talbot
• as well as this one, combining traditional Irish and contemporary elements
• Of great note are the Magnificat of Antonio Vivaldi 
• and of Johann Sebastian Bach 

whose composition is all the more notable, not only for its stunning qualities, but for the fact that Bach was Lutheran, while we usually associate the Magnificat with Roman Catholic liturgy.  Yet Mary’s Magnificat is the song of the whole worldwide church, including:

• Eastern Orthodox communions
• An African setting, in French
• And a Black American massed gospel choir

The Baroque era composers Vivaldi and Bach both used common musical conventions from opera at the time to convey such things as the sweet comfort and assurance of divine mercy implicit in Mary’s words, “Et misericordia sua” or “His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation.” Both composers portray this mercy musically through a steady, tender heartbeat undergirding the music, expressed by the basses, cello and organ, Bach’s version, with a dotted, ¾ time rhythm  and Vivaldi’s with a steady, march-like bass line. Both settings turn tempestuous, strident and militant at the words, “Deposuit…” or, “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones,” this one by Bach , this one by Vivaldi .

For the words, “Esurientes implevit bonis…..” (He has filled the hungry with good things) Bach conveys through recorder, lyre and pizzicato bass/cello the image and feeling of a young girl, dancing and rejoicing that there is food today!

Bach also composed a cantata based on Mary’s Magnificat in German, using Luther’s Bible translation, Cantata 10, “Meine Seele Erhebt den Herren”   

From Mary’s mix of wonder, reverence and submission with revolutionary pluckiness one can understand why the reading of her Magnificat has been banned at certain times and in certain settings, such as in British- occupied India, in Argentina during The Dirty War, and in Guatemala, during the reign of the military juntas. It gave people hopeful, even revolutionary, ideas that the elites of their society feared.

This year, for Advent, I have finally memorized the Magnificat, for prayer at down times of the day, or when I have trouble sleeping. It is comforting to know that I am not praying it alone; at the very least, Benedictine brothers and sisters are praying it somewhere on this spinning planet, wherever darkness descends, to the glow of evening candles in vespers services.