{"id":8214,"date":"2012-05-01T23:00:37","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T04:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2017-01-24T17:56:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T22:56:04","slug":"the-may-magnificat-a-few-words-for-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2012\/05\/the-may-magnificat-a-few-words-for-wednesday.html","title":{"rendered":"The May Magnificat (A Few Words for Wednesday)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

God is simple, God is all. In his wisdom, he gave us his only begotten son, the new Adam. Jesus, then, is the reimaged God, or God, Version 2.0, if you will. <\/p>\n

This God-Man, Jesus, has a Mother, and as such, so do we. For if we are adopted sons and daughters of God, and God became a man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of a woman, then the Blessed Virgin, Mary Immaculate, is both his mother, the Theotokos<\/em>, and ours too. Indeed, Our Mother magnifies Our Lord, and points us ever towards Him. <\/p>\n

Even though I wasn\u2019t ready to understand this for the longest time, and the faith I followed denied it no end, God knew that we need both his masculine and feminine natures in our attempt to grasp who he is. His nature has both, as the scriptures hint subtly, from Genesis (here<\/a>, and here<\/a>), to Isaiah (here<\/a>, and here<\/a>) and on.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first Adam fell, and so the New Adam arose. The first Eve was tempted to be like God, and fell. The New Eve maintained her balance, and thus became a living Ark of the New Covenant, her womb bringing forth the Living Word. <\/p>\n

My own crude words fail me at this point, but that is what poetry is for. Gerard Manly Hopkins, S.J. explains much better than I why May is the month we dedicate to Our Lady, Our Mother, and the Mother of God. <\/p>\n

The May Magnificat<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MAY is Mary\u2019s month, and I
\nMuse at that and wonder why:
\n Her feasts follow reason,
\n Dated due to season\u2014\t<\/p>\n

Candlemas, Lady Day;
\nBut the Lady Month, May,
\n Why fasten that upon her,
\n With a feasting in her honour?\t<\/p>\n

Is it only its being brighter
\nThan the most are must delight her?
\n Is it opportunest
\n And flowers finds soonest?\t<\/p>\n

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
\nHer reply puts this other
\n Question: What is Spring?\u2014
\n Growth in every thing\u2014\t<\/p>\n

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
\nGrass and greenworld all together;
\n Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
\n Throstle above her nested\t <\/p>\n

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
\nForms and warms the life within;
\n And bird and blossom swell
\n In sod or sheath or shell.\t<\/p>\n

All things rising, all things sizing
\nMary sees, sympathising
\n With that world of good,
\n Nature\u2019s motherhood.\t<\/p>\n

Their magnifying of each its kind
\nWith delight calls to mind
\n How she did in her stored
\n Magnify the Lord.\t<\/p>\n

Well but there was more than this:
\nSpring\u2019s universal bliss
\n Much, had much to say
\n To offering Mary May.\t<\/p>\n

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
\nBloom lights the orchard-apple
\n And thicket and thorp are merry
\n With silver-surf\u00e8d cherry\t <\/p>\n

And azuring-over greybell makes
\nWood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
\n And magic cuckoocall
\n Caps, clears, and clinches all\u2014\t<\/p>\n

This ecstasy all through mothering earth
\nTells Mary her mirth till Christ\u2019s birth
\n To remember and exultation
\n In God who was her salvation.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Question: Do Catholics pray to Mary? Fr. Dwight answers.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God is simple, God is all. In his wisdom, he gave us his only begotten son, the new Adam. Jesus, then, is the reimaged God, or God, Version 2.0, if you will. This God-Man, Jesus, has a Mother, and as such, so do we. For if we are adopted sons and daughters of God, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,232,36],"tags":[322,103,53,22],"class_list":["post-8214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-learning","category-living","tag-gerard-manly-hopkins","tag-mary","tag-other-blogs","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe May Magnificat (A Few Words for Wednesday)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God is simple, God is all. In his wisdom, he gave us his only begotten son, the new Adam. 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