On the day before the beautiful feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, I was privilege to celebrate a special mass at Stanbrook Abbey. We used the Votive Mass of the Holy name of Mary. The responsorial psalm was the Magnificat, the song of Mary to Elizabeth, and the gospel was the account of her visit to Elizabeth.

But the first reading was the first verses of St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – what a torrent of words! You will have heard it before:

“Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight.” And it goes on and on.

Who begins a letter like that? And how can we be expected to take it all in in a one-off reading in Church? I think it helps to see it as a song of St Paul. Mary’s Magnificat is a song. They say that “from the hearts overflow the mouth speaks", well from a very full heart’s overflow the mouth sings. Paul’s heart is overflowing here; hence this rich torrent of gems of understanding.

It helps to understand St Paul’s functioning. Do you remember how he was viciously attacked by a party in the Church of Corinth which said he wasn’t a real Apostle and that he wasn’t a polished speaker like some of those who came to Corinth after him? In the second letter to the Corinthians, he states firmly that he is as much an apostle as the Twelve, and that he is commissioned by Christ.  Then he somewhat tentatively explains how it works. He says that he was taken up onto the “third heaven” and there shown things that could not be put into words. For the rest of his life, his work was to try to put into words those things that cannot be put into words.

Every time he preached, taught or wrote, that was what he was doing – the impossible. And he boasts about his weakness before that impossible task, because each time he tried, God came through for him. We might say “the poor man!”, but he glories in his weakness, because it provided a launch-pad for God’s word to arise. If only, we were all like him!

And look at Mary singing to Elizabeth. In the last few days, she has been given the unique title “Full of Grace” by the archangel as he knelt before her. Today Elizabeth entitles her “the Mother of my Lord”. It is as though she wants to go down on her knees before the future Queen of Heaven. But what title does Mary give herself? “The handmaid of the Lord”, and to Elizabeth she enlarges that to “lowly handmaid”. She has yet to complete a long journey of faithful cooperating with God in his plan of salvation. She herself will not be complete until she breaths her last and is assumed into glory. We are like her.

True, she was Immaculate, but all that means is that she was born without the breakdown of communication with God that we all inherit, but that has been restored to us in Baptism. It does not mean that she would not be tempted and have to constantly throw herself onto the grace of God. See how we are in the best of company, and have real live models to imitate. Mary and Paul pray for us!