As with every true prayer, the Magnificat does just that: it magnifies the Lord, focuses on the Almighty, who does great things among us, the One whose name is holy. We begin to change when our own plans scatter us, bring us down; God’s plans replace them—God’s plans, in the case of the mystic, are revealed in a vision or a voice speaking to the soul. God’s plans work a revolution in our lives. We begin to change because of what we have seen and heard. Mary’s life, like that of her son, will be a living out of her own canticle. Franciscans pray a seven-decade rosary, the Franciscan Crown, that for me summarizes what it means to enter into the mystery of how we are transformed by and into Christ. Each decade invites us to meditate on one of the seven joys of Mary. The mystic knows in a uniquely graced way these mysteries that we believe and live out as we try to be true to the mystery of our baptism.
