An Introduction – Mary's Magnificat, Word by Word with Sonja Corbitt

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What happens when a prayerful young peasant receives a whisper so powerful that she dares not tell it? She hugs the secret close. And it is incarnated.

Going over and over the reality in her mind, she touches it timidly and unwraps it with equally unspeakable thrill each time. Looking at its significance from every possible angle, replaying the words repeatedly, jumping up and down and twirling around in her soul until she’s dizzy with the implications, she “ponders it in her heart.”

And when someone else, a cousin, reveals that she too knows and understands and believes what unspeakable thing has happened, the riot of praise and poetry and stupendous irony fizz out of her, spreading out in a pool of song that runs up the sides of the hills of history like a wave.

This is Mary’s Magnificat. This is Mary’s Song. Hers is the song of the Church.

For other episodes in this series, visit the Discerning Hearts Sonja Corbitt page

Scripture References for The Show

Luke 1:46-55, the words of the Magnificat

And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
⁵²he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”

1 Samuel 2:1-10, The Magnificat is based on the Song of Hannah.

Fixed Hour Prayer in OT

Psalm 55:17, David prays evening, morning, and noon.
Daniel 6:10, Daniel prays toward Jerusalem three times a day.
Jeremiah 39:8, There were public prayer places in the first temple that the Chaldeans destroyed when they razed it.
I Kings 8:48 and Daniel 6:10, Jews prayed three times daily toward Jerusalem when in exile.

Fixed Hour Prayer in NT

Acts 2:15, Apostles pray at third hour, 9 am.
Matthew 15:36; Acts 27:35, Jesus’ “lunch prayers” at midday
Luke 1:10, Zechariah serves at the incense altar at “the hour of incense,” (incense, itself, symbolic of prayer) while the people pray outside.
Luke 18:10, Jews go to the temple to pray at appointed times when in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:1; 10:30, Apostles go to the temple to pray at the ninth hour or 3 pm.

Galatians 4:4, The woman, Mary, is the “fullness of time” and the axis of salvation history.

For more resources and Sonja’s scripture meditation exercise for this episode visit the “Bible Study Evangelista“ website

Sonja’s books can found here

Sonja Corbitt is the Bible Study Evangelista. She’s a Catholic Scripture teacher with a story teller’s gift – a Southern Belle with a warrior’s heart and a poet’s pen.

We’re all sweating and dirty with the effort to love and lift all He’s given to us – those people, duties, callings, and longings that break our hearts and make them sing, sometimes at the same time. But most times, we need to be loved and lifted ourselves.

So her Bible study media are created with you in mind, bites of spinach that taste like cake, to help you make space in your busy heart and schedule for God to love and lift you all the way up into His great lap, where all you’ve been given is loved and lifted too.