My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has remembered his promise of mercy. Mary’s song of praise, the  Magnificatas it is popularly known, not only shows the kind of an individual Mary was, but also affords us a peek into the kind of household she was brought up in. It is a song that can be said to have been well ‘beyond’ her years. It is a hymn that celebrates the history of God’s dealings with the nation of Israel, and is patterned after the other great hymns found throughout the Old Testament (the song of victory by Moses and the Israelites [cf. Exodus 15:1-18], Tobit’s song of praise [cf. Tobit 13:1-17], Zechariah’s  Benedictus [cf. Luke 1:67-79], and of course Hannah’s song of praise that has been used as our responsorial psalm of today [cf. 2 Samuel 1-10]). Only and individual who was familiar with the Hebrew Scripture as well as the history of the Hebrew people would have the required disposition and know-how to come up with such a rich hymn.  
In the hymn, Mary demonstrates the maturity of her faith as well as the kind of person that she is. She is aware that her ‘salvation’ is tied to that of the larger community, the nation of Israel. She sees her being blessed and favored by God as a fulfillment of God’s promises to her people. To Mary, what God has done in both her life and that of her cousin Elizabeth is a demonstration of God’s fidelity and commitment to the promises made to Abraham and the patriarchs. To Mary, what God has done to her is not limited to her, and it was not just about her. God had done this to humanity and she was happy to have been chosen to play such a central role. 
 
Homily for students
Today is a very exiting day for us, and we can hardly wait for Mass to be over so that we can begin our short holiday. It is also an exiting day because we are breaking not for any other holiday but for Christmas holiday! Christmas is such an important time for us, and we can tell by all the nice songs that are playing everywhere, all the beautiful lights and decorations. And of course Santa is also on his way bringing with him some nice gifts for those who behaved. Most importantly, Christmas is such an important time for us because we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our savior and friend. Jesus is such a nice person because when we celebrate his birthday, it is us who receive gifts. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? Isn’t that a good reason to be happy and celebrate? And when someone gives you a wonderful gift you have to say thank you. For all the Christmas gifts that we have already received, and for those that Santa is still bringing, we make sure that we say thank you to Jesus by going to Church on Christmas day. Ok? Tell you mom and dad that you want to go and say thank you to Jesus by going to Church. And of course, we also celebrate Christmas by being good to others just as Jesus has been good to us. Amen.