Over the past few days we have reflected on Mary’s Song as a song of praise and joy. And we have been mindful that it is also a song of reversal, in which the poor and lowly are lifted up. It is a song of hope for the poor, and reconciliation for the lost. It is song of joy for those who have been put down. This is the song that Mary sings when her cousin, Elizabeth, affirms for her that she will birth the one who will be called the Son of God. The seed of this good news is already planted in Mary’s womb.
Luke 1:46b-55
1:46b "My soul magnifies the Lord,
1:47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
1:48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
1:49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
1:50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
1:51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
1:52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
1:53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
1:55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
I first began singing the Magnificat in the simple form of a chant while I was in college. The student group I belonged to was attached to a local Methodist and United Reformed Church in a West London suburb. During my second year of college this church, and many others throughout London, planned to host a meeting of the Taizé community.
Between Christmas and New Years, young adults from around Europe would be gathering in London, sharing Taizé’s values of peace and reconciliation. I leapt at the chance to assist with the hosting and to participate in the gathering.
The Taizé community is an ecumenical monastic community of brothers. The community was founded by Roger Schultz in a tiny village in France in 1940. During the decades following World War II many young people in Europe had lost interest in religion. It had let down their parents and they weren’t going to let that happen to them. They decided that they would depend upon themselves, and their own efforts to improve things. But Frère Roger and the brothers of the Taizé community had a ministry for the young people of Europe. The men of this holy order dreamed of offering the younger generation an alternative from cynicism and self-reliance.
The Taizé community was committed to the reconciliation of all people, particularly Protestants and Catholic at the time. Once in a while, there was a special meeting in a European city, where young Taizé pilgrims flocked to meet one another and talk about the things that concerned them. The meeting in London in December 1981 was this kind of event. Frère Roger said, of the young people who came to the meetings:
“They cross various human and geographical boundaries. They come to fix their gaze not on what divides them but on what unites them, not to reinforce their pessimism but to perceive signs of hope."
Taizé is famous for the simple chants used in worship, in various languages, including Latin, Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian. During the London gathering, these songs became the “herald” of groups of students traveling around the city.
Each evening, when a worship service was about to begin in St Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, thousands of students would flood the London underground coming from their host communities. I don’t know if you’ve ever used it, but the Tube’s escalators are white tiled “tubes” in themselves and seem to descend way below ground, making for great acoustics for the musicians who perform down there.
As this great horde of students moved around London, ascending and descending those lengthy escalators, they would sing the chants of Taizé. Wonderful, echoing song rose: “Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat anima mea dominum” my soul magnifies the Lord!
The Taizé Magnificat chant, sung in canon
As I sang along with the pilgrims, the Magnificat chant became imprinted on my heart. Even now, my daily spiritual practice frequently includes listening to and singing Taizé’s Magnificat chant.
Today Taizé attracts tens of thousands of young people each year from around the world. The brothers say, humbly, that they do not know why the young people come and what they find attractive. I have a sense that it is the brothers’ culture of deep listening, authentic service and non-judgmental acceptance, that draws in the young. Many of the young adults meet with the brothers one-on-one to discern God’s call for them in their lives.
Mary responded to the angel with consent and obedience to God’s plan and purpose for the reconciliation of the world. She offered up her own body to be the one who would conceive, gestate, birth, nurse and nurture, God’s “great idea”. It was her calling and her joy. Such a joy, that her song just poured from her heart.
Frère Roger and the brothers of the Taizé community responded to God’s call with the same purpose of bringing reconciliation the lost and scattered young people in Europe and the world beyond.
This Advent time, I wonder how might we, like Mary and the brothers of Taizé, might birth good news in our lives and in our communities? And how might Mary’s song, the Magnificat, help us in that discernment?
I wonder,
What is God asking to be birthed in your life and in my life?
Is there a venture, a project or a plan, that fills you with joy and anticipation?
Is there something creative, something liberating, or true or beautiful, you long to do?
What song of reversal, reconciliation, peace, joy or hope are we being called to sing?
As we sing and pray and ponder these questions, may our souls magnify the Lord!
Amen
Gaudete (Rejoice!) sung by the King’s Singers in 2012