Our Lady, Who Rejoiced | Catholic Daily No. 106

"The lowliness of Mary was made the heavenly ladder, by which God descended upon earth." — Augustine, Catena Aurea

Luke uses one verb for Christ at the end of today's Gospel and for His mother at the start of his book.

First reading: Job answers the Lord, after the whirlwind: "I know that thou canst do all things, and no thought is hid from thee." And: "With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee." — Job 42:2, 5. The psalm response is Lord, let your face shine on me.

Gospel: "And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying: Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy name... But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." — Luke 10:17, 20-21

And, turning to the disciples: "Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. For I say to you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them." — Luke 10:23-24

In the Catena Aurea, Cyril says Christ is said to have rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, "that is, in the results which came forth through the Holy Spirit." On the wise and prudent and little ones, Bede is exact: "To the wise and prudent then He opposed not the dull and foolish, but babes; that is, the humble, to show that He condemned pride, not quickness of mind." Origen adds: "a feeling of deficiency is the preparation for coming perfection."

Luke has two moments of joy in his Gospel, a long way apart, and he gives them one word. Of Christ, at the end of the passage above: "In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost." — Luke 10:21. Of Mary, in the house of Zechariah, after Elizabeth's greeting: "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." — Luke 1:47. The Latin Vulgate reads in ipsa hora exsultavit Spiritu Sancto in the first and et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo in the second.

The reasons run together as well. Christ thanks the Father that He has "revealed them to little ones." Mary gives the reason for her song: "Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." — Luke 1:48. And she names what God does with the proud: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." — Luke 1:52

Aquinas collects the Fathers on this verse in the Catena Aurea. Augustine: "The lowliness of Mary was made the heavenly ladder, by which God descended upon earth." Bede: "as by the pride of our first parent death came into the world, so by the lowliness of Mary should be opened the entrance into life." And on the joy itself, Basil: "The first-fruit of the Spirit is peace and joy."

The Magnificat is spoken at the Visitation, the second joyful mystery of the Rosary, the mysteries the Church gives to Mondays and Saturdays. John Paul II wrote in Rosarium Virginis Mariae that the Rosary "is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation," and that "With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary." Of the day itself he wrote that "Saturday has always had a special Marian flavour." The Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on Wednesday.

Friday's close: SPY $769.65, +0.7% · Nasdaq 100 +1.0% · Russell 2000 +0.9% · tape BULL, regime choppy · new longs paused by the two-loss warning

The week ended nearly flat for the S&P 500 fund, down 0.2% to $769.65, with Friday's 0.7% gain taking back most of the week's loss. The Nasdaq 100 fund rose 0.7% on the week and technology 1.8%. The equal-weighted S&P 500 fell 0.7% and small caps 0.2%. Only three of the eleven sector funds rose on the week: technology, energy at +1.3% and utilities at +0.8%. Healthcare was the weakest at −2.7%.

Friday itself was a gap that faded. The Nasdaq 100 fund opened 1.2% above Thursday's close at $751.31, touched $754.51, and gave back part of it to close at $749.49, up 1.0% and below where it opened. The S&P 500 fund did the same on a smaller scale: it opened at $770.68 and closed at $769.65. Nine of the eleven sector funds finished up.

Both long positions held. AMD rose 2.9% on Friday to $633.75, 3.7% above its entry of $611.31. CrowdStrike (CRWD) rose 1.5% to $270.05, 8.6% above its $248.69 average over 636 shares; the stops at $249 are my own call as Fund manager. The seven puts cost $18,426 and were worth $15,340 at the close, down $3,086, the cost of insurance in a week the market did not fall. The idle-cash sleeve is in commodities (DBC) and short-term Treasuries (SHY) with no orders open.

The two-loss warning is still on: no new long until SPY closes above $779.37, about 1.3% above Friday's close. The tape turns, and the system sells every long, only on a SPY close below $629.29. Because Friday closed up, it was not a distribution day, and our own count stays at 10 of the last 25 sessions for the S&P 500 fund. The same count for the Nasdaq 100 fund is 5.

The scanner's list holds thirty-three names at or near their 52-week pivots, and none triggered. Buying stays paused until SPY clears that level with the tape still bullish. The system keeps its rules whether or not it can see what comes next.

Our Lady, pray for us, that our spirits would rejoice in God our Saviour.

In Christ,

Jonathan Simmons

Enoch Capital LLC

Catholic Daily goes out Monday through Saturday.

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