In the first reading Hannah fulfills a promise made to God as she had turned to God in deep distress and years back God had answered her. In today’s Gospel proclamation also we see such a divine reversal in the life of the Blessed Mother. Mary sings a song of Praise, echoing Hannah’s song over Samuel’s birth (1 Samuel 2). Both women lowly in spirit and perhaps undergone pain and hardships were given a reversal of circumstances in their lives. We may be in a valley waiting endlessly on God. For those who love God the valley is a blessed place. God can use our ‘waiting rooms’ for His glory, just as God was waiting with Hannah, bringing her around, void of the echoes of the world, to where her heart and things were completely towards Him, to which He purposed for them. “The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely towards Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus, save us from our sinfulness. Amen.