Dear Friends and Benefactors, 
The “Magnificat” of Our Lady contains an abundance of holy mysteries worthy for our daily meditation. In explaining this greatest of Biblical canticles, Saint John Eudes, in his wonderful book “The Admirable Heart of Mary”, says that Sacred Scripture includes a number of inspired canticles that were composed by saintly women, for example, the canticles of Mary, sister of Moses and Aaron, of Deborah, of Judith, of Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel, all of which give thanks to God for outstanding favors received from His divine bounty. But the holiest and worthiest of all canticles is the Magnificat of the Mother of God, which stands unsurpassed because of the dignity and holiness of its author, as well as because of the great and admirable mysteries it contains. This is to say nothing of the miracles that God has performed by means of this canticle. 
     While there is no record of any miracles having been performed through other canticles, St. Thomas of Villanova, the Archbishop of Valencia, points out that upon the recitation of this canticle the Holy Ghost wrought a number of wonders on behalf of St. John the Baptist, the holy precursor of the Son of God, as well as in the person of his parents. Experience also has shown on more than one occasion that the Magnificat is an excellent means of expelling evil spirits from the bodies of those who are possessed by the devil. Several other esteemed writers report various miracles which have taken place through the recitation of this canticle. 
     There is no evidence that the Blessed Virgin Mary ever sang or spoke it publicly more than once during her lifetime, but we cannot doubt that she recited it numberless times in private. Some writers report that Our Lady has often appeared in churches, during Vespers, surrounded by throngs of angels, and that she has been heard to sing her marvelous canticle with the angels and the priests so melodiously and enchantingly that no words can express the perfection of her participation. 
     Remember, too, whenever you sing or recite this virginal canticle, to surrender yourself to the Holy Ghost so that you become united to the devotion and all the holy dispositions with which it was sung or spoken by the Blessed Virgin Mary and by countless numbers of zealous saints.
      The first part of the ‘Magnificat’ (St. Luke 1: 46-49) will be examined in this newsletter.  The following newsletter will examine the remaining verses in honor of Our Lady during this month of May, specially dedicated to her.

“MY SOUL DOTH MAGNIFY THE LORD” 
     The first verse contains only four Latin words, ‘Magnificat anima mea Dominum’, but they are words imbued with great mysteries. Let us weigh them carefully and devoutly; let us consider them attentively, in a spirit of humility, piety and respect, in order that we may be inspired, like the Blessed Virgin, to magnify God for the great and marvelous things that He wrought in her and through her, on her behalf and for us as well. 
     Here is the first word: ‘Magnificat’. What does this word mean? What does it mean to magnify God? Is it possible to magnify one whose grandeur and magnificence are immense, infinite and incomprehensible? Not at all; such a thing is impossible – impossible for God Himself, Who cannot make Himself greater than He already is. We cannot magnify God, that is, make Him greater in Himself, since His divine perfections are infinite and therefore cannot be increased in themselves, but we can magnify Him in ourselves. 
     We can magnify God in several ways:

  1. By our thoughts, having a most exalted idea of God and the highest esteem for Him as well as for all things of God. 
  2. By our devotion, loving God with all our hearts and above all things. 
  3. By our words, always speaking with the most profound respect of God and all things pertaining to Him, and by adoring and praising His infinite power, His incomprehensible wisdom, His immense goodness and His other perfections. 
  4. By our actions, always performing them solely for the glory of God. 
  5. By practicing what the Holy Ghost teaches us in these words: “Humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God, for great is the power of God alone, and He is honoured by the humble.” (Ecclus. 3, 20-21) 
  6. By willingly bearing the crosses that He sends us for love of Him; for there is nothing that honors Him more than suffering, since our Saviour found no means to glorify His Father more excellent than the torments and death of the Cross.
  7.  By preferring and exalting Him above all things through our thoughts, affections, words, actions, humiliations and mortifications. 
         But alas! How often do we do just the contrary! Instead of exalting God, we lower Him; instead of preferring Him to all things, we prefer the creatures to the Creator; instead of preferring His Holy will, His interests, His glory and His happiness to our own will, interest, honor and satisfaction, we do just the opposite, putting Barabbas before Jesus. 
         We come now to the second word of our canticle, which is ‘anima’ (soul). “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” Notice that the Blessed Virgin Mary does not say “I magnify,” but “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” in order to show that she magnifies Him from the utmost depths of her Heart and with her whole inner strength. Thus, does she magnify Him not only with her lips and tongue, her hands and feet, but she also employs all the faculties of her soul – her understanding, memory, will and all the powers of the superior and inferior put of her soul, exhausting full inward and outward strength in order to praise, glorify and magnify her God. 
         She does not magnify Him exclusively in her own name, nor to discharge her infinite obligations because of the inconceivable favors that she has received from His divine bounty; she magnified God in the name of all creatures and for the graces that He has bestowed upon all men, since He became man in order to render men God-like and save the whole human race, if men will but cooperate with the designs of His inconceivable love for them. 
         We come now to the last word of the first verse: ‘Dominum’ ( the Lord), “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” 
         Who is this Lord whom the Blessed Virgin magnifies? It is He who is the Lord of lords, the sovereign and universal Lord of heaven and earth. This Lord is the Eternal Father; this Lord is the Son; this Lord is the Holy Ghost – three divine Persons who are but one God and one Lord, having but one single essence, power, wisdom, goodness and majesty.  She magnifies the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost for the infinite graces which They have granted to her and intend to bestow on all mankind. 
         Let us learn from this canticle that one of the principal duties required by God, and one of our greatest obligations towards His divine Majesty, is gratitude for His blessings, for which we must render thanks to Him with all our hearts and with most special devotion. Let us be eager, therefore, to imitate the glorious Virgin in her sublime thanksgiving, and to say frequently with her: “My Soul doth magnify the Lord,” in order to thank the Most Blessed Trinity, not only for all the graces that we have received, but also for all the blessings that Providence has ever bestowed on all creatures. 

“MY SPIRIT HATH REJOICED IN GOD MY SAVIOUR” 
     These divine words, uttered by the inspired lips of the Mother of our Saviour, reveal to us the ineffable and incomprehensible joy that enraptured her heart, her spirit and her soul, together with all its faculties, not only at the moment of the Incarnation of the Son of God within her, but during the time that she bore Him in her blessed womb; indeed, even throughout the remainder of her life, according to St. Albert the Great and other Doctors. It was such an excessive joy, especially at the moment of the Incarnation, that, just as her holy soul was separated from her body during the last moment of her life by the strength of her love for God and her superabundant joy upon beholding herself preparing to Join her Son in Heaven, so also, if her life had not been miraculously preserved, she would have died of joy upon realizing the inexpressible bounty of God on her behalf and that of all mankind. 
     Her Heart was overcome with joy because God had regarded her favorably, that is, had loved and approved of the humility of His handmaid, in which He found a most singular happiness and pleasure.  “Herein,” Says St. Augustine, “lies the cause of the joy of Mary – that He beheld the humility of His handmaid. It was as if she were saying, ‘I rejoice because of the grace that God has granted to me, for it is from Him that I have received the reason for this joy; and I rejoice in Him because I love His gifts for love of Him.'” 

“HE HATH REGARDED THE HUMILITY OF HIS HANDMAID” 
     In order to understand this verse appropriately, we must consider it in relation to the preceding verse from which it springs: “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, for He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” 
     This verse contains two principal truths, the first of which is expressed in these words: “He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid.” What is this humility of which the Blessed Virgin speaks here? The holy Doctors are divided in their opinions about it. Some of them say that among all the virtues, humility is the only one which never perceives or becomes aware of itself, for he who believes himself to be humble is really proud. Therefore, when the Blessed Virgin says that God has regarded her humility, she is speaking not of the virtue of humility but of her lowliness and abjection. 
     Other authorities maintain that humility in a soul consists, not in being ignorant of the graces that God has bestowed upon it and the virtues that He has granted, but in returning His gifts and keeping for oneself only nothingness and sin; and that the Holy Ghost, speaking through the mouth of the Blessed Virgin, wishes to teach us that among all the virtues He beheld in her, He loved her humility and approved of it most of all, because the Blessed Virgin had humbled herself beneath all things, and this humility persuaded His divine Majesty to elevate her above all creatures by making her the Mother of the Creator. 
     “O true humility,” exclaims St. Augustine, “which gave birth to God for the sake of men, and granted life to mortals! The humility of Mary is the heavenly ladder on which God descended to earth. For what is the meaning of ‘respexit’, if not ‘approbavit’, ‘He hath approved?’ There are many who appear humble in the eyes of men, but their humility is not beheld by God. For if they were truly humble, they would not find pleasure in the praises of men, and their spirits would not rejoice in the eulogies of this world, but in God.” 
     “There are two kinds of humility,” says St. Bernard. “The first is the daughter of truth; it is  cold and without warmth. The second is the daughter of charity, and it inflames us. The first consists of knowledge and the second of love. Through the first we realize that we are nothing, and we learn this humility from ourselves and from our own wretchedness and weakness. Through the second we trample underfoot the glory of the world; and this humility we learn from Him Who annihilated Himself and fled when they sought Him out to offer Him the glory of royalty; but when they hunted Him down to crucify and plunge Him into the depths of opprobrium and ignominy instead of fleeing He voluntarily offered Himself.”
     The Blessed Virgin possessed in a sovereign degree these two kinds of humility, especially the second; and St. Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas and several other writers all maintain that the words which the Holy Ghost uttered through the mouth of the most humble Virgin, ‘Respexit humilitatem’, mean true humility. 
     If you ask why God regarded the humility of the most glorious Virgin rather than her shining purity or other virtues, seeing that she possessed them all in the highest degree, St. Albert the Great will reply, together with St. Augustine, that God preferred to look down upon her humility because it was more pleasing to Him than her purity. “Virginity is highly praiseworthy,” says St, Bernard, “but humility is necessary. The former is counselled; the latter is commanded. You can be saved without virginity, but there is not salvation without humility. Without humility, I dare say that the virginity of Mary would not have been at all pleasing to God. If Mary had not been humble, the Holy Ghost would not have descended upon her; and if He had not descended upon her, she would not have become the Mother of God. She pleased God with her virginity but she conceived the Son of God through her humility. Hence it must be inferred that it was her humility which rendered her virginity pleasing to His divine Majesty.”

“FROM HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED” 
     This brings us to the second part of this verse, namely: “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” We need not be astonished if the most holy Virgin says something here about herself which is highly favorable, and refers to her own glory and praise, for it is the Holy Ghost Who speaks through her lips. Here is one of the greatest, most celebrated and most important prophecies that was ever made or ever will be made, announcing to mankind the infinity of admirable things that God will accomplish everywhere on earth in every age and everlastingly in heaven on behalf of the Mother of the Redeemer, in order to make her known, loved, served and honored throughout the world.
     This great prophecy, informing us that all generations are to acknowledge and acclaim the Mother of the Blessed Saviour, applies to the whole universe, from the highest heaven to the lowest depths of hell. For not only has the Most Blessed Trinity sent the Archangel Gabriel, one of the first princes of Its empire, as ambassador, to announce to Mary that she was full of grace, and that the Lord was with her in order to accomplish in her the greatest wonder of all time, and that she is blessed forever among all women; this same Trinity also exalts Mary above all the angels on the highest throne of glory. 
     The Eternal Father honors her as the most blessed of all women, making her eternally the Mother of the Only-Begotten Son Whose Father He is, and granting her a power which surpasses all the powers of heaven and earth. 
     The Son of God proclaims her blessed among all the nations who hear His holy Gospel, which teaches the fulness of the grandeurs that He has bestowed upon Mary in choosing her to be His Mother. 
     The Holy Ghost renders her supremely blessed and glorious in choosing her as His most worthy Spouse and endowing her with His holiness in such a high degree that she is Queen of all the saints. 
     Do we not hear the voice of holy Church Militant which perpetually sings all over the earth: “Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary which bore the Son of the eternal Father, and blessed are the breasts which nourished Him?” 
     Have we not already heard of the merciful Virgin once declaring to St. Brigid that there is no pain in purgatory which is not eased through her mediation? And – do we not hear the voice of Holy Mother Church asking God to deliver the poor souls from that prison of divine justice through the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin: ‘Beata Maria semper Virgine intercedente’? It must convince us that the souls of the Church Suffering are not only relieved in their agony but also delivered from it through her mediation. 
     Is it not also true that the souls who were in Limbo from the beginning of the world until the death of the Son of God profited by the intercession of this incomparable Virgin, since it was she who gave them the Redeemer to free them from captivity? 
     Let us descend still lower to the utmost depths of hell. If it is true, as St. Thomas, the Angelic Doctor, says, that the miserable damned are punished ‘citra condignum’ – that is to say, they do not suffer the full torments merited by their sins – it is certain that this is a concession of divine Mercy. 
     Now it is also true that for every effect of grace or mercy that proceeds from the adorable bosom of Divine Bounty our Mother of Mercy prays, and her prayers are effective. Therefore, all the souls in hell ought to recognize and revere her as the most benign and sweet Mother of mercy. But because they do not do so, let us compensate for their neglect, praying all the inhabitants of heaven to do likewise. 
     What shall we say of the wretched demons? Is it not true that, in spite of the rage they directed against this most bountiful Virgin because of the souls that she frequently snatches from their claws, they are nevertheless constrained to acknowledge her inconceivable charity whenever they are forced to abandon their prey by virtue of her intercession? And that upon the pronunciation of the holy name of Mary, they are compelled to leave the bodies in their possession and flee to their infernal dungeon? 
     Thus, it is that all the generations of heaven, of angels, of saints, of the Church Triumphant, Militant and Suffering, and even of hell itself, fulfil this prophecy of the glorious Virgin: “All generations shall call me blessed.” 
     Finally, there is no country in the world, no nation under the sun, either great or small, rich or poor, no religious or priest, no man or woman, not under the obligation to confess and proclaim that the Mother of the Saviour is the most blessed, powerful, generous, compliant, admirable and amiable of all creatures; for she seems to belong to the world and to think only about doing good to all who love and invoke her, and to make them partakers of her own happiness and felicity. 

“HE THAT IS MIGHTY HATH DONE GREAT THINGS TO ME: AND HOLY IS HIS NAME” 
     In the preceding verse the Blessed Virgin prophesied that all generations shall call her blessed; in this verse she reveals the reasons for this honor – namely the great things that God has done to her. 
     What are these great things? Let us listen to St. Augustine. “It is a great thing,” he says, “for a virgin to be a mother without the cooperation of man. It is a great thing for her to have borne in her womb the Word of God the Father, to have clothed Him with her own flesh. It is a great thing for her who characterizes herself as a handmaid to become the Mother of her Creator.”  
     “It is a great thing,” says St. Antoninus, “to have created heaven and earth out of nothing. It is a great thing to have brought manna down from heaven in order to nourish the Chosen People in the desert for forty years. It is a great thing to have given the Israelites possession of the promised land after having exterminated all the kings and people who inhabited it. All the miracles that our Saviour performed in Judea, giving sight to the blind, driving out devils from the bodies of those who were possessed, curing the sick, restoring the dead to life, are great and marvelous things. But the mystery of the Incarnation, which the infinite power of God wrought in the Blessed Virgin, incomparably surpasses all these other things. It is what prompts her to say, ‘He that is mighty hath done great things!'” 
     Finally, God wrought such great things to this chosen virgin that He could not have accomplished greater marvels. He could easily make a world larger than the one He did make, a sky more vast, a sun more brilliant; but He CANNOT make, says St. Bonaventure, a mother greater and nobler than the Mother of God. For if He could make a greater mother, He would have to give her a more excellent son. Now is it possible, to find a son more worthy than the Son of God, whose Mother is the Blessed Virgin? 
     The Blessed Virgin, having affirmed that the Almighty has wrought great things in her, then adds these words: “And Holy is His Name,” words which contain six great mysteries. 

  1. The mystery of the Incarnation, being a mystery of love, is attributed to the Holy Ghost, who is personal love, as the masterpiece of His love and bounty, in fulfilment of the words of the angel: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.” 
  2. The Sacred Humanity of the divine Infant whom the Blessed Virgin conceived in her womb is sanctified by His most intimate union with essential Holiness, the Divinity. This is further designated by these words of St. Gabriel: “The Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” 
  3. The Infant God is thus sanctified and made the Saint of saints in order to sanctify and glorify the Name of the Thrice Holy One as much as it deserves, as well as to make it sanctified and glorified on earth, in heaven and throughout the universe, thus fulfilling the proclamation: «Hallowed be Thy Name.»  
  4. The Saviour of the world, whom the holy Virgin bears in her most sacred womb, is divinely anointed with the unction of divinity, that is, He is sanctified and consecrated as a Saviour so that He may exercise the functions of Saviour, and of the Sanctifier of all men, a mission He commences at once with regard to His precursor, the Baptist, and His relatives, St. Zachary and St. Elizabeth. 
  5. The Holy Ghost, by overshadowing Mary in order to accomplish in her the most holy work that ever was or will be done, and the Saint of saints, holiness itself and the source of all holiness, by being conceived by her, filled and overwhelmed her with an ocean of grace and inconceivable holiness. 
  6. The ineffable mystery of the Incarnation is an inexhaustible source of all the grace and holiness that has ever been, is now and ever will exist in heaven and upon earth. 
         Behold and admire how many wonders are contained in these few words pronounced by the hallowed lips of the Mother of the Saint of saints, Whose holy name be praised, sanctified and glorified for all eternity. 
         For this intention let us repeat together with the seraphim, with all paradise and with Holy Church: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.”
         The remaining verses of the Magnificat will be examined in the next newsletter.
         Last, but not least, continue to pray fervently the Holy Rosary everyday (more than one if possible) as THE REMEDY from Heaven for these times of increasing apostacy and calamities throughout the whole world!

Father Joseph Poisson 

Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
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Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
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