THE MAGNIFICAT OF MARY AND CONSECRATED PERSONS: A SOCIAL-LIBERATING AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The article focuses on the social-liberating dimension of the Magnificat and its message for consecrated persons. In the article, it was presented that Mary’s Magnificat is an important canticle which helps us to understand Marian spirituality in its social context. Precisely because the Magnificat has had such influence on how we understand Mary in relation to social concerns, it was also fitting that a connection was made between Mary’s Magnificat and consecrated persons, and how to respond to social issues in the light of the Magnificat.  Certain things were brought into the general framework of the article: the social context of African, the theological understanding of the Magnificat from a social liberating perspective, and the mission of consecrated persons in the time of upheavals in Africa in the light of the Magnificat. It was made clear that Mary’s Magnificat has a social message for the people of Africa, and consecrated persons, by virtue of their consecrated lives, and called to be active participant in the social transformation of Africa, in the light of the social message of the Magnificat.