Magnify Him

When my children were small, I remember how fascinated they were with a magnifying glass.  They would take turns running through the house and yard and looking at small things like bugs, dirt, paper clips, strawberries, each other’s eyeballs and all sorts of things.  The reaction was always the same, “Woah!  It’s so big!”  

This magnifying glass made the smallest things seem big and made large things seem even bigger.  Such it is with Christ and my soul.  I am to take the smallness of my life and magnify Him, so that it brings glory to God.  In Scripture, it is St. John the Baptist who proclaims, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  (John 3:30)  John knew that to decrease himself would only leave more room to be filled with Jesus.  

Throughout the Scriptures, magnifying the Lord is coupled with the action of decreasing oneself; to minimize the attention on self and to rightly focus this attention and gratitude on the Lord and His great goodness.  

• “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”  Psalm 34:3
• “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”  Psalm 69:30

In the Old Testament, there is prophecy which warns against magnifying the self and allowing the pride of oneself to overshadow the glory of God.

• “By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself.  Without warning he shall destroy many;” Daniel 8:25
• “And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods.”  Daniel 11:36 
• “Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether who rejoice at my calamity!  Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!”  Psalm 35:26

Of course, it is Mary… beautiful Mary, who personifies the magnification of God in her very person.  She is the one who greatly glorifies God in the way that she proclaims her “Magnificat.”  She proclaims the goodness of the Lord in all things and in all ways and sings her song of praise for the One who has blessed her among women.  Her profound words spoken in Luke, are a living testimony to the way that God has worked in her life.  The words we hear spoken by Mary in Scripture are a blessing and a praise of God.  Her fiat allows God to work profoundly in her.

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.  For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.   

Luke 1:46-49

Can I, like Mary, magnify God in my own soul?

Can I, like Mary, magnify the greatness of God in my thoughts, words and deeds?

Can I, like Mary, magnify God at all times, especially when things are not going as I planned?

Because of Mary’s witness to what it means to be a Bride of Christ and a true, faithful disciple, I have confidence and hope so that I can give my own fiat to God.  Through prayer and the gift of His grace in my life, I CAN magnify Him in all ways and at all times, because this is how I am called to live… this is who I was created to be.    

My fiat says: YES, I can magnify the Lord in the ways that I offer myself for my family in the everyday, unseen ways of caring for them.

My fiat says:  YES, I can magnify the Lord in the ways that I accompany those in need of knowing that our Bridegroom sees them, knows them and loves them.

My fiat says:  YES, I can magnify the Lord in the ways that I continue to work towards forgiveness for wrongs committed against me; to heal from the harsh words spoken to me in anger; to pardon the unthoughtfulness aimed towards me; to be free from allowing the many other human actions and reactions which I encounter on a daily basis to enter my heart and cause me to grow bitter.

My fiat says:  YES, I can most magnify the Lord in the way that I remain fixed in His gaze, always desiring to know Him, serve Him and love Him more each day.  This is how I can magnify the greatness of the Lord.  What is your fiat?  How can you magnify Him just a little bit more today?  How about tomorrow? 

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Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,

That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me

That every soul I come in contact with

May feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,

So to shine as to be a light to others;

The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;

It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,

By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,

The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.  Amen.

-John Henry Cardinal Newman

Come, let our souls magnify Him in His great goodness and may we each be the magnifying glass by which others see His unfathomable mercy and love!

Nicky Verna, Copyright 2024