Celebrating St. Mary’s Day on the way to Denmark

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in you, O God, my Savior,

for you have looked with favor on your servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your Name.

You have mercy on those who fear you from generation to generation.

You have shown strength with your arm and scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things

and sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the help of your servant Israel,

for you have remembered your promise of mercy,

The promise made to our forebears,

to Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and their children for ever.

Today is the actual feast day of Mary.

I celebrated with prayers and worship at Hallgrímskirkja which included a gift of extraordinary music by the Schola Cantorum.

Their concert was because it was a summer Wednesday, but I listened for Mary. She showed up in The Song of Simeon, the hymn of praise launched into by a man who had been waiting his whole life to meet the Saviour of the world; he was introduced to the infant Jesus when he was brought to the temple in the arms of his mother, Mary.

To honor Mary, I’ve been looking for blue, the color of hope, and the color she seems to be always wearing in art. Since we have no idea what Mary looked like, her color coding makes her recognizable.

The wall of the hotel is covered in a mural of crosses. Seeing them this morning, the blue ones seemed to praise Mary.