Please read the passage before the commentary.
“There is nothing new under the sun,” an old philosopher and wiseman once wrote. What Mary said was nothing new. A similar thought is expressed in Hanna’s canticle from 1 Samuel. Neither was new for God who plans and carries out plans from the beginning of creation until now.
Hanna had grieved over her inability to conceive and rejoiced over the birth of her son Samuel, the one who would inaugurate the rule of monarchy in Israel. She had been made to suffer for being unable to conceive; now she could sing of God’s mercy.
Mary represented the long grieving of the people of Israel for their saving of the people. She saw in her pregnancy to salvation God was sending into the world. Mercy, strength, wisdom, justice and fidelity to promises had been hallmarks of God’s dealings with the world.
God had promised mercy. God had kept that promise from of old. God would keep this promise anew in Mary’s day. God will therefore continue to keep this promise even in our day.
Hannah sang this. Mary sang it anew. Are we going to continue to sing it in our day? How has the Lord showed greatness to us? How have we experienced God’s mercy? How have experienced God’s strength and faithfulness? Then, why are we not singing?