Your Magnificat Moment

Dec 08, 2024

My neighbor sat across from me, sharing a delicious appetizer. We marveled at the space we inhabited. Every detail in the restaurant had been chosen with care, a care we so needed.

Once our dinner arrived, soup for her and the Immaculata Salad with Salmon for me, my pastor sat down next to me for a short visit.

Brother Phil was filled with joy.

He regaled us with stories of how the restaurant came to be, the myriad ways God orchestrated events, and the small miracles along the way that allowed The Friar’s Table to open in downtown Cleveland. His decades-long dream was finally a reality. A place near the theater to grab a simple meal. A meal prepared and served by the formerly incarcerated and newly immigrated.

It was truly a Magnificat moment.

One of the managers stopped by to check on us. She shared a little of her experience with the history of the Friar’s Table. When Brother Phil made his first cold call to research the project, she answered the phone. Turns out, she already knew Brother Phil. He had been the pastor of her mother and grandmother’s church. He knew them and all of her aunties. And of course, he knew her when she shared her name.

Story after story of God-incidences (not coincidences) were shared throughout our meal.

We were both grinning ear to ear as we braced ourselves to walk back to the car in the freezing evening. We repeated the stories to each other. Can you believe this and can you believe that happened?

Have you ever looked back over a section of your life and recognized that only God’s invisible hand could have orchestrated your circumstances? While you may not have perceived His presence in the hardship and struggle, He was busy behind the scenes. Your lack of perception did not mean that He was not at work.

This is the way of the Magnificat.

When our soul is filled with joy for the great things God has done, we have to tell someone else. Stories told are how we know that the lowly are lifted and the hungry are filled with good things. Keeping track of the roadblocks and shut doors and hurdles and dead ends illuminates the path we should take.

It is brave to mark the way of your struggle so that others can find their way forward. So, for this second week of Advent consider your own Magnificat moments. When have you persevered despite logic telling you to quit? Have you marked the great things the Lord has done for you?

Courage breeds creative self-affirmation; cowardice breeds destructive self-abnegation.
Courage faces fear and thereby masters it; cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it.
So we must constantly build dykes of courage to ward off the flood of fear.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. Practice Bravery

Pull out your Bible and turn to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 1 verse 46. Read through verse 55.

Read the passage again, stopping on the verse that stirs your imagination.

What event does this verse call to mind?

Bonus Points- Tell someone about this event and how it relates to your understanding of our loving and merciful God.

2. Consider a New Book to Read and Gift

I have subscribed to Jake Ownesby’s Substack for several months now and my soul is always calmed by his words. His latest book, A Full-Hearted Life, was released this week.

If you or someone you love is looking for a book that will “help you see for yourself and to explain to others how Christian belief and Christian practice can make life meaningful” this will be right up your alley. Consider ordering this book from your locally owned bookstore.

Until next week, stay safe and warm. XO