An Advent Meditation: Mary, Hannah & Cesar Chavez - Empire Falling...

Sunday marked the beginning of the season of Advent which is also the beginning of the liturgical calendar for Christians.

As happenstance would have it, I'm reading ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN by Eric Atchenson.

On page 41 of this thought-provoking book, Atchenson pairs together Mary's (the mother of Jesus) Magnificat with a similar song of praise given by Hannah (the mother of the prophet Samuel). 

Here's what Mary, a teenager, sang, in response to her older cousin Elizabeth's greeting.

Mary sang:

"My soul magnifies the Lord

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

For He who is mighty has done great things for me,

And holy is His name.

And His mercy is on those who fear Him

From generation to generation.

He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent away empty..."

As a young person, growing up attending a Catholic school, I remember being taught that Mary was Jesus' mother. She was patient and kind and loving. 

All these things were probably true.

But Mary's own song paints a picture of a very bold pregnant teenager singing out to the heavens.

The Mary who is singing this song is unabashedly rejoicing in God who is not only her savior, but her liberator. 

She sings about a God who is merciful, but also strong. Scattering the proud, pulling down the mighty from their thrones, lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry with food while sending away the rich.

Atchenson pairs Mary's song with Hannah's song when she brought her son, Samuel to the temple to begin his life of service.

Hannah prayed:

"My heart rejoices in the Lord!

The Lord has made me strong.

Now I have an answer for my enemies;

I rejoice because you rescued me...

Stop acting so proud and haughty!

Don't speak with such arrogance!

For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;

he will judge your actions.

The bow of the mighty is now broken,

and those who stumbled are now strong.

Those who were well fed are now starving,

and those who were starving are now full...

He [the Lord] lifts the poor from the dust

and the needy from the garbage dump.

He sets them among princes,

placing them in seats of honor.."

Again, the themes of praise and liberation hold true.

Hannah prays out, rejoicing in God's lifting up the lowly, the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden. She also sends a direct warning to the proud, the haughty, the arrogant to watch out. The day is coming when the powerful (according to society's standards) will no longer rule.

Both Hannah and Mary then, urge us to focus on the God who sees the oppressed and raises them up.

Atchenson writes: "Both women lived in lowly social stations as either a married-yet-childless wife (Hannah) or as a divinely pregnant unwed fiancee (Mary). Both women sang of a God whose justice involved the reversal of circumstances, but Mary specifically applied that reversal to economic fortunes; the hungry were filled and the rich made empty-handed."

Then Atchenson asks the $10,000 question: "What if that were the church's Christmas message?" 

Wow! 

In twelve years of religion classes taught by the good sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I don't remember them mentioning this message.

Advent was a time of inward preparation. Silence. Anticipation. Longing. For baby Jesus.

But Mary was shout-out-loud rejoicing in the falling down of Empire.

She may have been a teenager, but she had some divinely inspired wisdom deep inside, motivating her joy at seeing the world turned upside down by her son.

Not just spiritually, but practically.

People were going to be fed. The forgotten, those living on the margins were going to be lifted up. And the rich, the powerful, were going to be sent away, empty-handed.

This is nothing more than heaven coming to earth. Now. Not in the bye and bye.

And, finally, here's an example of such revelation of kingdom coming, from Cesar Chavez, a deeply spiritual Roman Catholic, who led the United Farm Workers in difficult strikes during the 1960s. This is his Prayer of the Farm Workers Struggle:

"Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people’s plight.

Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.

Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience;
So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world. Amen."

In the middle of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are already used to life being interrupted. We are already used to the kingdom of normality falling.

This Advent season Hannah and Mary and Cesar are inviting us to listen to the sound of social justice coming.