Word to the Wise
Friday, December 22, 2006 - Third Friday in Advent
[1 Samuel 1:24-28 and Luke 1:46-56]My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
. The "Canticle of Mary," also known through the ages as the "Magnificat," is a continuation of the dialogue between her and Elizabeth when they meet. It is a prophetic utterance which places all of creation within God's power, despite our own efforts to control everything on our planet. God takes on the proud, rich and powerful and vindicates the humble, poor and oppressed. This is the confidence of the canticle. More cynical voices might reply that there are still millions of poor, hungry and oppressed people on earth. Where is the God who will deliver them? As long as we humans with our free will allow other humans to be poor, hungry and dominated by our desire for more power, wealth and fame, there will be work for God to do. This work will be accomplished by people of faith responding to the needs of others. To sit back and cynically criticize the faith of those who have nothing but that faith is an ultimate cruelty. To sit back and fail to respond in even the smallest way on behalf of our own faith is also a cruelty. To do it only at Thanksgiving and Christmas is to fail to understand the magnitude of the sorrow. Can this season inspire us to do better year round? AMEN
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