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A propos of nothing...

Except that it is beautiful, and a celebration of life, I thought that I would post Mary's Prayer.

Magnificat anima mea Dominum,
et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salvatore meo,
quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,
quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies
timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo,
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;
deposuit potentes de sede
et exaltavit humiles;
esurientes implevit bonis
et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum,
recordatus misericordiae,
sicut locutus est ad patres nostros,
Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

Comments

Anonymous said…
My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

Yes, I know this and it wasn't life affirming when I learned it verbatim. At least you should give your more simple readers a translation.It would mean something, maybe.
10:13 am
Martin Meenagh said…
Mary--I assume that is you--I just like the magnificat. Various left-wing blowhards have from time to time surprisingly upheld it as their political creed, and I was reflecting on it the other day.

My latin is terrible, and I regret that because people who claim to be educated should know Latin and Greek, and maybe some Hebrew as well if they are part of the European tradition. And, it goes without saying, French. You know, I found out the other day that not only does the UK pay for English and Welsh students to go to school after the age of 16--thirty pounds a week--but it pays them more if they are uninterested and prone to truancy. God almighty. People should be working on their books and languages and if necessary working weekends at that age for money, otherwise this easy impulse we all to have to have everything in our own vernacular when we could do better will just diminish us all.

Of course, as I've said before, Latin would be a darn sight better in terms of mental discipline and character for children than sex education, and would also probably neutralise any amourous feelings they had or attracted as well. So, trebles all round.

Anyway, I'm at home here with my family for a few days, so posting will be light; please don't assume I'm ignoring you if any response you may write is delayed. Sorry about the school experience you had...
7:11 pm
Anonymous said…
Martin,
I had no right to post such a bad-tempered comment..I knew it was a churlish response when I wrote it but it did bring back memories of six strikes of the ruler for less than perfect recall.(I think everyone in the class got that punishment. We were eight years old at the time).I am now fifty two and think I should be over it.

I did Latin at school and found it heavy-going. It seemed to be one of those subjects that some people had a flair for..two of my class mates studied classics at Oxford.
I struggled with all the conjugations, declensions and the rest and gave it up at the first opportunity.I was envious of the b-stream who got to study a second modern language instead of a dead one. Allowing that Latin was considered too difficult for a grammar school b-stream I think you'd have a hard time persuading your average kid these days that it is a useful discipline.

Anyway, please forgive my earlier rudeness(you have to because you're a good Catholic) and do have a relaxing time with your family.I do hope your mother is feeling better.Believe it or not,the lack of a signature was an oversight. I just fired off the comment without thinking. Obviously you knew who I was.
Love Mary.
2:30 am
Anonymous said…
Other anonymous coward here, not Mary or the first one on this post. For your convenience:

My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

The translation's source lists other versions as well, if you don't know what words like holpen mean. I just picked it at random.

In more wikitourism, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis isn't very popular but is my favorite argument in favor of learning dead languages. Also, playing devil's advocate, I think you can learn more to help your life with a term of sex education than you can in a term of any language.

Enjoy your family time!
3:59 am
Martin Meenagh said…
Many thanks to everyone. No offence taken anywhere, though (with a smile) I can see how medieval councils ended in fistfights now!

Still, at least we all do Latin. You should see some of the things a Greek orthodox commenter once sent me. They'd have stopeed a Marine, or made a nun blush.
11:57 am
Martin Meenagh said…
:) stopped, I meant
11:58 am
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