The God Who Turns the World Right Side Up

"He has shown strength with His arm and has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts."

So reads the third verse of the Ninth Ode of Orthodox Matins, taken, of course, from the Magnificat (Luke 1:51)

This verse, sung each day near dawn, along with the rest of the Magnificat, serves as a reminder of that Friendship with the World means Enmity with God, or to put it another way, "My thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways."

The "strength of his arm" is the way the world truly is and is meant to be; those who reimagine the world and build towers of Babel in defiance, they are scattered.

Mary, a young maiden from Nazareth saw this, and said Yes to God, being wiser than the proud ones of the earth.

Comments

[Beth from TN]

Thanks for this, Jim. A refreshing meditation at the end of a difficult day.

[Bull]

Dittos! Man, did I need this reminder. Will pass it along too...

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, and thanks to all the T/M folks for their labors and blogging.