Mary’s Song…We’ve sung it, read it, heard it preached in candlelit sanctuaries. Its words have wrapped themselves around centuries of faithful resistance. It might be easy to gloss over it as something that’s already given all it has to give. What if this year, the Magnificat is calling to us to hear God’s promises afresh, to embrace Mary’s hope, and to herald her daring vision of a world turned right-side up? Take some time today for hearing, hoping, and heralding through the practice of Lectio Divina.
First Reading: Hearing
Read through the passage slowly and prayerfully to practice hearing.
- What word or image in Mary’s song grabs your attention or lingers in your spirit?
- How do you sense God’s favor upon you or those the world overlooks?
Second Reading: Hoping
Read through the passage a second time, leaning in to the hope.
- What does Mary’s song say about the nature of hope when things still look unfinished?
- What might it mean to trust that God’s promises are already in motion?
Third Reading: Heralding
A final reading invites us to proclaim what is good and true.
- What message of liberation or mercy might you be called to herald in this season?
- How can your voice and actions magnify love’s presence in the world?
God of mercy and might, teach me to hear Your whisper anew in the cries of the world, to hope with Mary’s audacity, and to herald good news with my life. Let my soul always magnify your love, in word and in action. Amen.
(Springfield, MO)
Words for Waiting 