Ave Maria Meditations
If (the Magnificat) is recited, it is a sweet prayer. If it is sung, it is a triumphant hymn that sends the spirit exulting in God. If it is meditated upon, it is like a flowered garden, rich with heavenly fragrances. It has an ever-new flavor, an ever-lively charm, an ever-virginal delicacy, which the centuries have never been able to age, because it is a canticle of life.
What joy, O Holy Virgin, to receive grace, to receive Jesus and to be able to sing with you: Magnificat anima mea Dominum! What peace to find oneself on the cavalry of trial and to be able to repeat with you, even while weeping, in the full resignation of the heart: Magnificat anima mea Dominum! What inner sweetness to rise to God despising the joys of the world, and to repeat in the flight of the soul to the eternal Good: Magnificat anima mea Dominum!
What poetry of love to recite with the Church the great liturgical prayers, to feel satiated with interior elevations, and to turn one’s entire soul to God in this song of your soul, O Mary: Magnificat anima mea Dominum! What comfort in the dryness of the spirit, when our poor fountain has dried up and does not give a drop, to revive the source of the heart with this your song , and to give life to the poor parched land: Magnificat anima mea Dominum ! (My soul magnifies the Lord!).
The servant of God, Don Dolindo Ruotolo
