Daily Reading
Previous to this text, Mary hears from an angel that she will conceive without the participation of a man, that this is the fulfillment of God's promise to his people to provide a Redeemer Messiah. The angel also tells her that her relative Elizabeth—well beyond the age of childbearing—is six months pregnant. Mary travels quickly to visit Elizabeth. Clearly these two women, a virgin and a woman who has despaired of having a child, have something in common! Something magnificent has happened. Unable to contain herself, Mary bursts into the song what is now known as the Magnificat. Mary is in awe of being chosen as the Messiah's mother—she accepts her part in this unfolding drama, embracing the fulfillment of God's promise from the beginning to make things right. She sees what is about to unfold as the turning upside down of the cosmos: the Redeemer Messiah will put to right all wrong and redeem his people for himself.
The waiting of Advent is imminent as we read Mary's song, this recognition that God is about to make good on his promise made from the beginning. In Mary's life, history is disrupted by the intrusion of God himself into the form of a human being. The tension builds!