Megalùnei
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, literally is written: the Lord magnifies my entire being, and the Spirit of me is joyful in God, the Savior of me.
Magnifies, greek megalùnei, present tense of megalùno, denominative of mègas, “grow, enlarge, broaden”, corresponds to the Hebrew root rwm, “raise, heighten, elevate, exalt”. It’s only found in the Gospel of Luke, and only twice. In Aramaic we find the term mawrbo, “grow, magnify”. Mary, using this word, exalts God the Lord as the only one, the greatest. It’s is a statement of wonderful faith that chase away from the mind any possible idolatry as soon as it’s born.
My entire being, greek hè psuchè mou. It’s the rational soul, the perceptive/nourishing soul, “my life”. It corresponds to the Hebrew nèfesh, “soul as the seat of feelings, affects and desires”. Literally “throat, desire, breath”. It can be translated with “throat that breathes”. It means man in his entirety, with all his needs and physiological, psychic, spiritual potentials. In this context it indicates man in all his dimensions, as it’s said with authority in God’s commandment in Deuteronomy 6:5, where the Lord asks to be loved with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength.
The Lord, greek ton kùrion. The greek Kùrios, Hebrew Adonày, is the God own name, it also translates the divine Tetragrammaton YHWH; it’s the Syriac-Aramaic Morìo, “lord, sovereign, landlord”. It means God the Father, but it is also used referring to Jesus, the Lord. Kùrios thus means “the Lord”, the Lord of the world, the authority, the power, it always implies legitimacy and authority. Lord is the first of the four names found in the canticle in which Mary not only defines God and exalts Him, but most of all conveys her experience of God.
Rejoices, greek kài egàlliasen. Egàlliasen, aorist of agalliào, “I’m joyful, delighted, I rejoice, I’m happy; I enjoy”. The Hebrew root ‘gv bears the concept of loving, worshipping, exalting, embracing someone with majesty, in the sense of embracing someone with loving majesty because he is such a precious and beautiful being that he inspires regard and wonder. The Sumeric-Akkadian agu means “crown, halo, royal diadem”. Absolutely nothing on earth and in human life shows and reveals the presence of God in a person more than joy. In John 15: 11 is indeed written: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
The Spirit of me, greek tò pnèuma mòu. Pnèuma is a deverbative noun of pnèo, “breath, waft, blow”. The verb pnèo comes from a semitic based metathesis corresponding to the Akkadian panachu, “blowing”, – the Akkadian root pa’u indicates turning towards, the own twisting and turning of the wind continuously moving– and from the Hebrew root nfch, “breathe, turn on, gasp”. The noun pnèuma means “breath, wind, blow; breathing, life; man’s spiritual part, inner seat of feelings, soul, power”, and it indicates the Spirit itself. In Hebrew is rùach,,which not only translates “wind, blow, breath”, but also, in terms coming from the same root, “abundance” and “liberation”. The spirit is the essence itself of the human being, the dimension that identifies him in the roots of the vital energy that was given him by the Father.
In God, greek epì tò theò. God is the name used since the most remote times: the Sumeric nouns dir, dimir, dimer meant “god”. Epì, “on, on top, added to, at the presence of, at, together with, through, in front of”, is a preposition that indicates been in place with the meaning of contact in the closeness.
The Savior of me, greek tò sotèri mòu. Sotèr, from the verb sòzo, “I save; I restore, I heal; I redeem, I free”. In Hebrew Sotèr corresponds to Yeshùa, “salvation, health, help”, in Aramaic to Machyòno, “Savior, the One who gives life”. Savior is the second name of God which we find in Mary’s words, and it’s a quotations from Habakkuk 3: 18: Yet will I rejoice in the Lord and exult in my saving God. Savior in this case is Jesus own name, his proper name, the name of the Son and the Lord.
Mary praises, exalts, thanks the Lord for his love and in the name of the love for all that he continuosly does in the creation and in reharmonizing the creation. Mary’s thankful and loving attitude towards God is an invaluable life lesson for the entire mankind. Mary teaches us that error, sin, the greatest and most dangerous evil in life is the thinking ill of God, that hopelessly shuts down any praise and thanking. If mankind, in this very moment, were to use Mary’s inspiration not to think ill of God while facing life’s events, but always and only to praise and thank him, in a few moments it will start shining of a wonderful light and strenght.