My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!

Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.

March 8th is International Women’s Day, and so I’ve featured this most beautiful prayer for the daily devotion today. Mary is arguably the most important woman in the history of the world; she is the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Intercessor, protector and perfect example to all Christian women, her value as an integral part of our ever unfolding relationship with God is inestimable. In this prayer she expresses her trust in God, her fealty and loyalty to her almighty Father, and most of all, she shows us how we should relate to him. Her humility is astonishing; none of what she says is about her, it’s about the honour she has received from God. It’s God who has done great things, and that’s why we glorify his name. We are nothing without God.

Mary is the paragon of womanhood. And when I consider her life and what she has done for the human race, and with what devotion and faith she carried out her role, I find myself in total amazement at what is going on in society today. I’m astonished that in this modern, and so called advanced, age that the definition of womanhood has been so ridiculously distorted by certain sectors of society and the media. At it’s most fundamental level, being a woman means that one is biologically female, and this is the human template on which we, as women in the world, build our individual selves to be the best we can be in order to do God’s will and to reflect God’s Glory. God made people male and female, man and woman, and it is fitting that on this particular day, we should rejoice in how we were made, and be glad in the qualities and capabilities we possess. Like Mary, we’re made to rejoice in our Maker, and to proclaim the glory of God, the God who scatters the proud and lifts up the lowly.