Cradle to Cross


 Luke 1:46b-55

It is finished.

Dare we hear, in Mary’s Magnificat, echoes of Jesus’ last words in John? If we consider Holy Scripture as God’s creative word which acts on us at every encounter, our attention to reverberations across the Gospel can bring us closer in tune with the breadth of God’s plan.

In Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1 she sings not of the great things that will come to pass because of the birth of the Savior but of that which is already accomplished: God has shown strength with God’s arm; God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. Her words signal the fulfillment of God’s salvific work, affirm her obedience to God’s plan, and testify that God is in solidarity with all who suffer, just as do Jesus’ words from the cross.  

We read this, we hear it, we may even know it to be true, but do we accept it our hearts? How hard it is for us to truly believe in God’s forgiveness and mercy! May we experience today and every day the divine compassion of God which comes to us through the grace-filled action of Holy Spirit in the Savior who took on human form, as Martin Luther said, not to terrify or crush but to console and confirm.

Blessed Jesus, king of grace, imprint your image on my heart and let me live by its inscription: Born for me, crucified for me, you are my life, my hope’s foundation, all my glory and salvation.

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