Magnificat
Text:
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden.
From this day on, all generations shall call me bless'd, for the Almighty has done great things for me.
He that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy, holy, holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him in ev'ry generation.
He has shown the strength of His arm,
He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
He hath exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
He will cast down the mighty from their thrones, He will lift up the humble. He will fill the hungry with good things, with good things, with good things, with good things, and the rich He will send away empty!
Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son, glory be to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end.
[Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen… You who are more to be honored than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, you who, uncorrupted, gave birth to God the Word, in reality the God bearer, we exalt you! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!]
Year: 2026
Duration: c. 6 minutes
Instrumentation: tenor soloist*, mixed chorus
Premiere information: [none yet, you could be the first!]
Notes: *This setting of the Magnificat prayer casts a trans soloist as the prophetic voice of the Mother of God, backed by a choir of angels that affirm her holiness and status of God-bearer.
My relationship with the Catholicism I was raised in has been and continues to be incredibly complicated, usually painful, and always inescapable. (Despite everything, I am still here.) I love the Magnificat because it is both the Blessed Virgin’s account of the past, and a foretelling of things to come. The mighty will be cast down, the humble will be exalted, the hungry will be filled. Unhoused people will have pride of place, people who society habitually ignores will be greeted first, the social order will be overturned, justice will come. Power defangs Christianity again and again throughout history because the belief that a better world is not only possible but on its way is inherently threatening to all structures of oppression and dehumanization, including religious structures.
I wrote this piece for a girl from Virginia who I met in Penn Station. I wish I had more to give you. I hope you are warm, and dry, and safe. God have mercy on me.