Blessed are Mary, Judith, and Yael

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For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Winner's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and online-only content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

This story is full of echoes—most famously, Mary's song echoes Hannah's. But there is another echo: Elizabeth's praise of Mary, which gets taken up into the Hail Mary, is an echo of Deborah's song in Judges 5.