Wednesday 22 December

1 Samuel 1:24-28; Response, 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-8; Luke 1:46-56

Be poor to be rich

Our Lady personifies the spiritually poor as she praises God for his mercy to those like herself who are little in their own eyes. God’s mercy frees the poor of the Lord from oppression. Mary sees that divine Mercy in action on behalf of the poor in every age. To be spiritually poor is to enjoy God’s favour. To be spiritually poor is to be close to God. To be spiritually poor is to inherit the promises God made to Abraham. All this is implied in the Magnificat and paraphrased in the Eight Beatitudes