It's Not About Me

Advent Weekday – December 22

1 Samuel 1:24-28 / 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd / Luke 1:46-56

                                                                             

It’s Not about Me

Who would not be amazed at Hannah in today’s first reading? She is one of Elkanah’s two wives. Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife had several sons and daughters, but Hannah remained barren, and so was ridiculed by Penninah. Hannah went to the temple at Shiloh where Eli served as a priest, and prayed that her barrenness would be taken away, that she would conceive a son. She promised the Lord, the child would belong to him all of his life.

In today’s reading Hannah brings the weaned child Samuel to the temple at Shiloh and keeps her promise to the Lord. Hannah is his mother, but she will not raise him. She has left him at the temple to be raised in the presence of Ark of the Covenant, and there Samuel will find his special role in the history of Israel to anoint the first two kings: Saul and David.

We might be amazed at Hannah’s actions, but the author of 1 Samuel does not focus on her, but on what her child will be. We don’t know if Hannah had any other children so that Penninah would not ridicule her further for giving away her one son, but what pride Hannah could take in that son and who he would become even if no one understood what she was doing at the time.

Hannah’s song of praise, used as the responsorial psalm in our liturgy today, is the basis for Mary’s Canticle found in today’s gospel passage. It is a song that looks beyond the great things God did for Hannah, removing her shame as a barren wife, and praises God for his many salvific actions in the history of her people.

Like Hannah’s song, Mary’s canticle, though it begins with, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord… all generations will call me blessed,” it quickly turns to the larger picture of what her child would mean for her people. The reason for her praise is the child she has been given. Mary’s song recognizes that God’s promise reaches far beyond her and will effect so many. She praises God that the effects will be felt for many, many generations.

Whereas Hannah’s child, Samuel, would anoint the first two kings of Israel, Jesus, Mary’s child, would be the promised Messiah (anointed one). The focus is not on the singer of the song, be she Hannah or Mary. The focus is on the action God has taken on behalf of his chosen people. If you asked Hannah and Mary, both of them would say, “It’s not about me.  It’s about my son.”

·        If you were to write a modern day canticle along the lines of Hannah and Mary’s songs, what would you praise God for? What is the greatness of God that your soul would proclaim? As you write, try to remember: it’s not about you.