THE MAGNIFICAT
2. He Has Filled the Hungry with Good Things and Sent the Rich Away Empty-handed.
Furthermore, Our Lady seems to find endless praise for humility. These words are just, being indeed a confirmation, a repetition of the previous ones. Here She speaks about another manifestation of humility, namely poverty, and of another shape of pride, namely, abundance and comfort. There is actual and real poverty and there is poverty of the spirit. Jesus wanted to be born, to live and to die embracing poverty. If we knew how much Jesus loves it then we would certainly appreciate it a little more.
However, we must at least look for, and desire poverty of spirit; to be detached from all; never to covet or envy, nor desire the comfort of riches; to rejoice when something is wanting to us or when things are not going fully according to our plans.
Finally by being anxious to be detached of all, we should also be detached from ourselves. A detached heart, shorn of anything that is not God, is so very pleasing to Him. God wants us to be detached of ourselves in order to be filled with God. When you pour plaster into a mold you make sure that the mold is perfectly clean and free from all foreign substances so that it may receive all the details of the original. In like manner, Mary and Jesus want to shape your heart so as to make it a faithful copy of their own. Consequently, they want you to admit no foreign element. You must, therefore, keep your heart clean, keep it detached. You must be ready to root out, no matter how painfully, all that is not of Jesus and Mary.
Think of this, especially at the moment of Holy Communion and do not forget that there is no place for Jesus and self at the same time. If you want Him to come in, self-love must go. This is the hunger to which Mary refers in the Magnificat when She sings that He has filled the hungry with good things. Approach Jesus with true hunger and you too will see those words fulfilled. And do not forget that the rich, the satisfied and self-sufficient are left with what is theirs; and since what is theirs is nothingness, they are sent empty-handed away.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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