And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; 47 my spirit rejoices in God my savior. 48 For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. 49 The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. 51 He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. 52 He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. 53 The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, 55 according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” 56 Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
Mary’s song begins with praise that is deeply personal, and then it widens into a proclamation about who God is and how He acts. She speaks as someone who has received a gift she did not create for herself and could never take credit for. That is why her first words are about the Lord’s greatness. Her "soul" and her "spirit" are both engaged, indicating that joy permeated her whole being in response to God.
When Mary rejoices in “God my savior,” she is placing her own story inside God’s saving work. In Luke’s opening chapters, God is already acting in history, and Mary is responding to that action with worship. Mary then names the reason for her praise: God “has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness.” In Scripture, God’s gaze is never passive. When God “looks upon” someone, He sees, He knows, and He acts. Mary calls herself the Lord’s servant and describes her “lowliness.” She is telling the truth about her smallness in the eyes of the world, and about her complete dependence on God. What follows is striking. Mary says, “from now on will all ages call me blessed.” She is not praising herself. She is announcing what God will do through her.
“The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Mary says that God’s action has greatly changed her life. She then widens her praise into a declaration: “His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.” In Luke, “fear of the Lord” is not terror. It is reverence, the posture of a person who knows God is always at the center. It is the humility that receives what God gives and can live in God’s mercy without resisting it.
Then the song takes on a sweeping, almost prophetic tone. Mary speaks of God’s “arm” and His “might.” This is familiar language from Israel’s Scriptures, the way God’s saving power was praised when He delivered His people. Mary is saying that the same God who acted in the past is acting again, now, in a new and decisive way.
“The arrogant of mind and heart” are dispersed. The rulers are thrown down. The lowly are lifted up. The hungry are filled. The rich are sent away empty. These lines can be misunderstood if we read them as if Mary is simply describing a political revolution. What she is describing is a reversal that begins with the human heart. God opposes pride because pride resists God. God lifts up the lowly because the lowly know their need and are open to His help. God fills the hungry because hunger can describe more than a lack of food. It can describe the person who knows he cannot save himself. And God sends the rich away empty, not because possessions are automatically evil, but because self-sufficiency closes the hand and hardens the heart.
Luke will echo this same pattern in Jesus’ preaching. When Jesus blesses the poor and warns the rich, the point is not that poverty is a virtue by itself, or that wealth is automatically a sin. The point is whether a person receives God as Savior or tries to live without Him (Lk. 6:20-26). Later, Luke will show the same reversal: the one who exalts himself is humbled, and the one who humbles himself is exalted (Lk. 18:14). Mary’s song prepares the reader for the kind of kingdom Jesus will announce—one that exposes pride, heals emptiness, and calls people to a life shaped by mercy.
Mary also makes clear that God’s saving action is purposeful and reliable. “He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” She is reading her own life in the light of God’s covenant. God’s mercy is not a change of mood. It is His steadfast commitment to what He has said. By naming Abraham, Mary is pointing to the long story of salvation history: God spoke, God has remained faithful, and God is now bringing His word to fulfillment.
This is also where the continuity between the Old and New Testaments becomes unmistakable. Mary’s prayer sounds like Israel’s Scripture because she is speaking out of Israel’s Scripture. Her praise is woven from the patterns of God’s earlier saving work, especially the kind of praise found in hymns like Hannah’s song (1 Sam. 2:1-10). Mary is not inventing a new God. She is proclaiming that the God of Israel is now bringing His mercy to its decisive moment through the child she carries.
The final verse is quiet but important: “Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.” Luke is not only showing us what Mary says. He is showing us what Mary does. She stays. She serves. She accompanies Elizabeth through the last stretch of pregnancy. The praise of God does not float above ordinary life. It moves into ordinary life and expresses itself in faithful love. John’s Gospel will later show Mary’s steady, unobtrusive presence again—at Cana, and then at the Cross (Jn. 2:1-11; 19:25-27). Luke’s closing line is the same kind of witness: Mary’s worship is real, and her love is practical.
Almighty God, you are holy and faithful. You lift up the lowly, and you remember your mercy. Give us hearts that receive your saving work with reverence and gratitude. Shape our words and our lives so that they proclaim your greatness, as Mary did. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Lk. 1:46-56.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Luke (Four Courts/Scepter), p. 246.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2018), p. 1039.
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), pp. 681-682 (para. 23).
- The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke (San Francisco: Ignatius Press), p. 106.
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