Mary's Magnificat: A Contemporary paraphrase

Artwork: "Magnificat" by Ben Wildflower. For more of Ben Wildflower's exceptional work, visit BenWildflower.com. 

Today, the Wheel of Advent Content has landed on "Apocryphal Chapters Excerpt" and we're offering a little sneak peak into some of the bonus content you can find in our "Apocryphal Chapters." This week, it's fitting that we fix our attention on Mary's Song - or, as your many Latin-speaking friends prefer to refer to it, The Magnificat - as it is an optional Scriptural reading in the Revised Common Lectionary for both last Sunday and this Sunday. As we pored over what is perhaps the first ever praise song Jesus heard, we couldn't help but dig into the Greek a little bit and create a more expansive translation/paraphrase that might help highlight some of the themes that are sometimes prone to get lost in the vaulted ceilings of the cathedrals where this song is typically sung. So, without further ado, we present to you "All That I Am For All That He Is: A Contemporary Magnificat Paraphrase."

Everything I have 
is invested 
in everything He is.

Just as my body is bursting with life, 
my spirit is bursting with joy 
- all because of God my Liberator - 
because His generous eyes have noticed 
the bankrupt state of His servant.

Now, all of Eve’s descendants 
will see in me 
the abundant wealth of God

His healing hands deliver Life,
Even as He has insured 
that those who miscarry justice 
will have no offspring,
A stillborn legacy.

To those beyond poverty’s reach, 
He has clipped their artificial wings
But to those who can only dream of flying, 
His goodness has eclipsed 
even the gravity of their situation.

All of this from a God whose promises 
return again and again to mercy-memories,
One continuous, unbroken 
cord of grace 
tethering our ancestors 
even to our descendants.