THE MAGNIFICAT
2. Behold from this day forward All Generations will call Me Blessed.
This is just a confirmation of the foregoing. The humble soul enamours the Heart of God. God spares no means to raise him and exalt him. How much has God exalted all His saints! But He has done so especially with Mary. Who of us more humble than She? On account of that all generations will call Her blessed. She humbles Herself and God exalts Her.
Watch this divine competition: God vying with Mary: Mary is determined to humble Herself before God and God is determined to raise Her above all the angels to the very highest secrets of divinity. Nobody as humble as Mary and nobody so exalted as Her. If you study Her humility you will get lost since you cannot reach the depths of Her self-abasement. If you meditate on Her exaltation you cannot follow since here also our sight fails and the mind cannot pursue Her in Her flight to God.
What must, then, humility be? What does God see in humility which makes it the essential condition to please Him? If Mary had not rendered Herself a handmaid, She would not now be the Queen and Mother of God.
The conclusion is that as pride and vanity are unreasonable, in so far as they have no foundation whatsoever, so they are also useless and fruitless. The proud soul achieves nothing. The humble achieves all.
It is, then, in your own interest to work at the acquisition of humility and at getting rid of any trace of that revolting pride.
St. Bernard was right when he said that the Magnificat was Mary's ecstasy of humility. Humility was the root of all the other grandeurs and marvels.
Lastly, think of the prophecy contained in these words: All generations will call Me blessed. The future is unknown and yet She speaks of it with the utmost certainty. How consoling it is for us to find that these words of Mary have been fulfilled to the very letter. Count the titles of Mary, number the shrines and temples raised in Her honor. Does not every Church and Chapel contain a Marian altar? Is there any town, big or small, which does not cherish one of Her images; which does not celebrate Her feasts with joy and splendor? Think of the month of Our Lady; think of the feasts of the Assumption, of the Immaculate Conception, recall the principal solemnities of Our lady. Watch Christian people flocking to the feet of Our Heavenly Mother. Then climb up to Heaven and contemplate the Saints, acknowledging that their sanctity is Mary's gift. See the angels who, together with mankind, never cease to call Her blessed. How magnificently has Mary's prophecy been fulfilled!
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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