Deana Weyman-St Andrews King City Ont, Matthew 2-13
The Magnificat during Advent is soul – stirring, indeed. Every time I hear the reading or sing the canticle, I am immediately transported back to a scene in the living room of my aunt and uncle in Oshawa, Ont.
There, an aspiring candidate for the Christian ministry, let’s call him Ebenezer McKay, is being tutored in the gospel arts by his uncle Leo during the family’s Christmas visit.
Leo Connolly, devout Roman Catholic, Irish, WWI veteran, affectionately known as ‘Tarz’ (Tarzan to his adoring brothers – in – law), and in those days of my youth an executive with General Motors of Canada, offered his attentive nephew this wisdom: “Jimmy, my boy, if you’re going to be a minister, you’ll have to know something of the Latin in scripture.”
Uncle Leo, as I picture him now, reclining in his armchair after a long day at the office, with feet stretched out comfortably on an ottoman, necktie loosened, shirt collar undone, launched into the Latin of this unforgettable text: “Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles.”
And so began an extended recital of a portion of The Sicilian’s Tale: King Robert of Sicily, from the collection, Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Robert of Sicily, regal in splendid luxury, hears the chanting of priests at vespers “on St. John’s eve.” The words pique his curiosity and he inquires of an attending clerk about their meaning. The clerk replies, “He has put down the mighty from their seat/ And has exalted them of low degree.”
Whereupon the King sneers:
“‘Tis well that such seditious words are sung
Only by priests and in the Latin tongue;
For unto priests and people be it known,
There is no power can push me from my throne!”
With that he dozes off, only to awaken in a dream where he discovers everything has changed. He is no longer king but a wretched serf in the royal court. In his place on the throne is an angel disguised as King Robert.
Robert, in squalor, is furious that this apparent imposter has seized his throne and rages against this humiliating reversal. To no avail, however, for he is mocked and scorned by everyone he meets. His place is now that of the court fool.
Gradually his stubborn pride gives way and is vanquished.
At that moment, the angel king in a private audience reveals himself to Robert: “I am an Angel, and thou art the King!”
Humbly, Robert accepts restoration and once more in ermine robes resumes his former station. When his courtiers rush into the hall, “they found him there/ Kneeling upon the floor, absorbed in prayer.”
Whenever human arrogance peaks in a nation or in an individual or in a community—even one of faith, this gospel theme in The Magnificat rings out with devastating clarity, calling us to repent, to reassess and to reach out for the spiritual makeover that will restore the grace of gratitude in our lives.
The Sicilian’s Tale would be a brilliant dramatic reading alongside Luke’s version of Mary’s extraordinary song. Try reading it that way at a Christmas Eve service or as a prelude to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in Advent.
Your congregation may well be on their knees around that table!
Wouldn’t that be an Advent to remember?
Sources of quotes:
“The Poetical Works of Longfellow”, Cambridge Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co, 1975 Tales Of A Wayside Inn, The Sicilian’s Tale – King Robert Of Sicily, pages 215 – 218
