Holy Is His Name: A Journey Through Mary's Magnificat

By John Michael Talbot

This refrain has reverberated through churches, cathedrals, concert halls, and arenas across America and around the world
for decades. Now for the first time, Christian Music pioneer and monastic founder John Michael Talbot leads us in an extended
meditation on Mary's Magnificat.

This canticle is not only the inspiration for "Holy Is His Name," it has been a daily hallmark of the prayer of the Church for centuries.

Join John Michael in this ten-day retreat, and you will unlock the depths of Mary's extraordinary hymn of praise, word by word, line by line, and day by day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667853024

John Michael Talbot

John Michael Talbot is the founder and spiritual father of the Catholic-based community the Brothers and Sisters of Charity. He leads an active ministry from Little Portion Hermitage and Monastery in Arkansas and St. Clare Monastery in Texas. He is also a Grammy– and Dove–award-winning, multiplatinum-selling Contemporary Christian Music pioneer, and a bestselling author of more than thirty books.

Book preview

Holy Is His Name, John Michael Talbot

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.

And my spirit exults in God my savior.

For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness.

And my name will be forever exalted.

For the mighty God has done great things for me.

And his mercy will reach from age to age.

And holy, holy, holy is His name.

He has mercy in every generation

He has revealed His power and His glory

He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance

And has lifted up the meek and the lowly

He has come to help His servant Israel

He remembered His promise to our fathers

And holy, holy, holy is His name.

Holy, holy, holy is His name.

Gospel Canticle, Evening Prayer

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior

For he has looked with favor 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.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

And has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

For he has remembered his promise of mercy,

The promise he made to our fathers,

To Abraham and his children forever.

Introduction

Holy Is His Name is one of the most requested songs from my catalogue of over fifty-seven albums, and by God’s grace alone multi-platinum sales. It has been a pleasant surprise to find that Catholics and non-Catholics all love this song. Even non-Christians love this song. It seems to have an amazing quality of reaching across barriers far beyond my abilities or talents. For this I give all praise to Jesus.

After nearly fifty years of ministry, it remains one of my favorites to sing in concert. One of the high points of my music ministry was singing Holy Is His Name at a papal event with St. John Paull II. While I sang, I invited the crowd of over half a million souls to light their candles and hold them up while they sang the chorus. It was glorious to look out over this sea of light and hear the wall of sound wafting back over the stage as they sang the chorus again and again. The friend who had invited me to the event was at the Pope’s side. He later reported to me that John Paul II turned to him and said, Magnifico! For me, it doesn’t get any better than that!

Although people have asked me to write a book about the meaning of this song for decades, I have always put it off. But after dozens of previous books, I have finally decided to do so. This book will be less informational and more devotional. But I pray you will learn something from reading it as well.

The Magnificat, (or Mary’s Canticle) from which Holy Is His Name was written, is Mary’s response to her cousin Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting she exclaimed, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ (Lk 1:42-43). Mary had been told by the angel Gabriel that her older cousin was expecting a child even though she was past childbearing age: ‘For with God nothing will be impossible’ (Lk 1:37). That child would be John the Baptist, the last prophet and the one who would prepare the way for God’s promised Savior. Jesus would clearly teach that all things are possible with God for the one who believes. (See Mt. 19:26; Mk. 9:23.) I like to think that he learned that from Mary, who taught it to him as a young child growing up under her care.

The Magnificat is perhaps the earliest of all Marian hymns in our Christian tradition. In the Roman tradition we sing this Canticle at every Evening Prayer, or Vespers. The same is true for Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Lutherans. Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians sing the Magnificat at Matins, or late night/early morning Vigils. So, it is considered important enough to be included in the daily prayers of Eastern and Western Christians alike, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants.

Mary always points to Jesus. In Catholic theology, Mary only makes sense in light of Jesus. Marian teaching is important because it safeguards our basic beliefs regarding Christ, what we call Christology. Mary is important because right belief about her protects what we believe about the Incarnation of the Son of God in history. Mary is also important because right belief about her safeguards what we believe about the Church on earth and in heaven, of whom she is our both mother and model. So, Mary is important because Jesus is more important. She is never important in and of herself.

Mary is the greatest of all saints. As important as Sts. Peter and Paul, Francis or Benedict, Antony or Basil or Augustine are, none of them actually bore the Son of God in their wombs, gave birth to him in a stable, raised him from an infant to manhood, saw him embark on his ministry, held him in their arms after taking him down from the cross, saw him after the Resurrection, were there at Pentecost, and was Assumed into heaven at the end of their lives to share eternal life with him as his Queen in heaven. None of the other great saints even came close. We give God latria, or the worship that is due to divinity alone. To the saints, we offer dulia, or reverence. But we give Mary hyperdulia, high reverence. I jokingly say to audiences that Mary is a saint on steroids! But seriously, she is the saint of all saints! There is no saint as saintly as