Women have been God's prophets too

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

The Magnificat My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; For he has looked with favour on his lowly servant. From this day, all generations will     call me blessed; The Almighty has done great things     for me and holy is his name. He has mercy on those who fear     him, in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm. He has scattered the proud in their     conceit, and cast down the     mighty from their thrones He has lifted up the lowly, and filled     the hungry with good things. But the rich, he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel, remembering his promise of mercy, the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.

On May 31, we celebrate one of the great feasts of the church year - the Visitation. This meeting of Mary with her cousin Elizabeth, took place shortly after the Annunciation.

As we look at the meeting of these two women, we notice that the first thing they do is to proclaim and celebrate the work of God in their lives. Two pregnant women share the joys of the mystery of salvation.

That meeting echoes through time because it is the first time that the Lord, incarnate in human flesh, visits his people, represented here by Elizabeth and the unborn John. And that visit comes about through the actions of another woman open to the Spirit: Mary.

As we look at their words and actions, we can see Mary and Elizabeth acting as prophets in the Old Testament tradition. The ancient prophets of Israel did sometimes foretell events. But their first role was to speak of what God had revealed to them for the good of the whole people.

The main role of Israel's ancient prophets was to reveal God at work in everyday lives, and help people cooperate with God in that work. As The Catholic Encyclopedia explains, "The Hebrew Prophet ... was the interpreter and supernaturally enlightened herald sent by Yahweh to communicate His will and designs to Israel. ... He had to maintain and develop the knowledge of the Old Law among the Chosen People, lead them back when they strayed, and gradually prepare the way for the new kingdom of God, which the Messiah was to establish on earth."

The word "prophet" comes from a Hebrew word navi (which was translated into the Greek word prophetes). Navi (sometimes written nabi) means "to be open," as in waiting to be filled. Both Mary and Elizabeth personified "being open" to God, waiting upon his will and command.

In Hebrew tradition, prophets received God's word and then were sent to proclaim it. They served as spokespersons for God - vessels from which God's Word came forth. The first prophet was Abraham, who was filled with faith in God's promise. The most famous prophet of Jewish tradition was Moses, who saw God "face-to-face" and was filled with that divine vision.

The Jewish Talmud - the teachings of the rabbis - holds that there have been thousands of prophets, even though we only know of 55. And not all the prophets are men. Hebrew tradition recognizes seven female prophets. Each, in her own way, allowed herself to be filled with and guided by God. They are:

• Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who spoke directly to God. Rabbinic tradition says Sarah was a greater prophet than her husband.

• Hannah, the mother of the last judge of Israel, Samuel. The words of the Magnificat of Mary echo the words in the Song of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10).

• Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. By tradition, she was a midwife who helped save her baby brother from the River Nile. Miriam's song, after the destruction of the Egyptian army (Ex. 15:20-21), is used in modern Christian liturgy to glorify God's saving action for his people.

• Deborah, one of the judges of Israel, who guided (and sometimes ruled) the people of Israel from the time of Joshua to the first King, Saul. Deborah led the people, through the military leader, Barak, to a decisive victory over the Canaanites. The Canticle of Deborah (Judges 5) again speaks of God's glory revealed before the people.

• Abigail, a wife of David and the widow of Nabal. She, through her wisdom, turned aside the wrath of David from Nabal's people.

• Hulda, a cousin of the prophet Jeremiah, lived during the time of King Josiah. According to rabbinic tradition, she led a school for women at the Temple. Her warning from God (2 Kings 22:15-20) helped spur a religious revival among Israel.

• Esther, a Jewish exile who became Queen of Persia. Her courage before King Xerxes, told in the Book of Esther, saved her people from extermination. She is the only female author of a book of the Bible. (tradition says Esther and her relative, Mordecai, wrote her book.)

Each of these women, in her own way and her own time, was open to the word of God. When they heard it, they acted on it. They were filled with God's Spirit. Elizabeth, miraculously pregnant with the last of the Old Testament prophets, acknowledged the presence of "God With Us" when she spoke as a prophet and called Mary "the mother of my Lord."

And Mary, in the tradition of the prophetic women before her, brought to perfection the role of prophet. She was so open to God's word that the Word took flesh in her. And, with Elizabeth's words to encourage her, she boldly proclaimed one of the most memorable songs of Scripture: the Magnifcat. Her soul, as all prophets before her, and after, proclaimed the greatness of the Lord.