SS Joseph & Francis Xavier, Richmond – 31 May 2008

We gather today in order to ask God’s blessing on the setting up of a new Catenian Circle in Hambleton. It is also the feast of the Visitation of Our Blessed Lady. It is because of her faith that we, with all generations, call Mary blessed. But do we have enough faith to believe that we ourselves are Christ-bearers, too; that wherever we go in our long journey through life, like Mary, we carry Jesus with us?

For our lack of faith, and subsequent lack of joy, we ask for pardon and mercy.
Lord, you are our strength and our song.

Lord, have mercy.

You are our Saviour.
Christ, have mercy.

You do glorious deeds.
Lord, have mercy.

Sermon

What is your favourite song? What do you find yourself singing in the bath or shower? What do you hum as you get on with task in hand? What’s that tune that gets into your head and you can’t get it out? No this isn’t a trailer for a new TV quiz show, just in case you were wondering. It’s just that a person’s favourite song can often say a lot about them.

The songs that we like to sing often reflect what is going on deep down inside of us. Often when there are profound feelings of joy or sorrow in our hearts, the best way to express them is in a song or with some music. Somehow, music and matters of the heart seem to go together, ordinary words just can’t do the job properly.

We have just heard the Gospel of the Visitation. Mary has just been told that she is to be the mother of God. At first she is startled and disturbed at the appearance of the angel then fearful of his message. However, once he has told her that she is to be the mother of the Lord by the power of the Spirit, she is calmed and acquiesces – I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me. Then the word became flesh in the womb of Mary. These were moments of great emotion for her, surely? God had chosen her to bring his son into the world, chosen her from among all women.

No sooner had the angel left her than Mary goes to visit her cousin so that she can share the news with her. I wonder what song she was humming to herself or singing in her heart as she journeyed along? Well, we don’t have to wonder do we? St Luke tells us exactly what that song was that was filling Mary’s heart and it leaps off the pages of the new Testament and has echoed down the ages ever since.

Mary was so moved by what had happened to her that she could not contain herself any longer, she cries out, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord – the great Magnificat which has inspired so many people generation after generation. The song witnesses to Mary’s exuberant joy. In the words of St Bede from his commentary on the Magnificat: The Lord, Mary said, has exalted me with a great and unheard of gift, which cannot be explained in any words and can scarcely be understood by the deepest feelings of the heart. In my joy, I pour out all my life, all my feelings, all my understanding in contemplating the greatness of him who is without end.

I asked you what your favourite song is. However, I’m going to tell you what it should be. We should all be able to join in Mary’s tune. No matter who we are, we are created in love by God, who continues to hold us in love and will never abandon us. In our baptism, he began to love us in his Son and to delight in each one of us. And he will never stop delighting in us. He calls us, like Mary, to be open to his Word, and to be filled with his Word and to bring that Word into our world in our flesh too. Like Mary we are carriers of the Word, he has chosen us. And if we really believe that deep in our hearts, at the core of our very being, then we can’t help but cry out with Mary – Magnificat – My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

Lord Jesus, as Mary your mother bore you to meet Elizabeth, so we carry you with us wherever we go, to all that we meet. May this thought so inspire us that our whole lives will sing “Magnificat”. Amen