Magnificat 5 October, 2010

“My soul magnifies the Lord!”  This is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s response to the grace of the Incarnation.  From the moment she visited her cousin Elizabeth and shared the Good News with the mother of John the Baptist, Mary was the first and most authentic Christian.  She is still our Mother, showing us how to transform everyday life into the Kingdom of God. Images of the Annunciation show Mary praying with Scripture when she received the message of the angel. MAGNIFICAT is therefore highly appropriate as the title of the beautiful monthly missal and prayerbook that is now available in a new UK edition, distributed by the Catholic Herald.

Already extremely popular in the United States and France (where it started), MAGNIFICAT is designed to help you follow Mary’s Spirit-filled example, leading you deeply into the prayer of the Church and the treasures of Scripture. If you subscribe, you’ll have all the texts you need, not only to follow the Mass of each day during the month, but to expand your interior life through prayer and meditation with the help of our best spiritual writers through the ages, and an essay on a beautiful work of Christian art. For each day there is also a simplified office of Prayer for Morning and Evening, based on the Church’s Breviary. It even fits easily in a pocket or handbag!

Leonie and I are delighted and honoured to be involved as editors of the new English edition, and we pray that it may contribute to what Cardinal Newman called a “second spring” of faith in our time: the birth of a civilization of love.  — S.C.

And make a note in your diary to come and see us in person at the TOWARDS ADVENT Catholic culture festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday 6 November. There should be some sample copies of MAGNIFICAT to give away!