This year, the Magnificat, a hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary, gained a new melody. It was composed by Gustavo Osterno, Shalom life community missionary and vocalist of the band “Missionário Shalom”. The consecrated man, who also serves in the artistic area of the community, told us about the inspiration for this song
During the retreat, Moysés explained that during the “Listening” of the General Council in June of this year, God asked the Community to take a new look at the Virgin Mary and to meditate more on her characteristics. During the theme “Mary, the Church and the Community”, the founder said that in every moment of Mary’s life something is learned.
From this call, there was the inspiration to create a new melody for the Magnificat that would reflect joy and gratitude. After this, Gustavo Osterno was asked for some suggestions for a melody, among which the one of his own authorship was chosen by the Council. Check it out below:
Inspiration of the melody
The composer tells that in August last year he found out that his mother was with cancer, and so one way that helped him to live this moment was through the prayer of St. Michael’s Lent , the meditation of the Rosary and the prayer of consecration to Our Lady. “Since then I realized that Mary had a fundamental role, she was taking care of my life and of my mother’s life. Mary, who sustained me and revealed to me the wisdom of each time of trial, consoled me, opening the doors for all my mother’s treatment to be successful,” says the missionary.
As time went by, Gustavo realized that there was a great desire in him to sing a new hymn of the Magnificat, but with the intense apostolic activities he could not find a time to sit down and compose the new song. Nevertheless, Gustavo relates:
“One day, a sister made the Magnificat in her own handwriting and in the middle of the prayer time gave it to me as a gift. The song stayed in my head, my lips were singing it all the time, so I got my guitar, I don’t play much, went home and started to sing the Magnificat. I recorded that Magnificat and listened to it every time my mother had a medical exam, I listened to myself singing those lyrics and danced locked in the room, in tears, crying for my mother’s pains, but at the same time feeling a new strength, because the Almighty always works wonders in us”.
The singer and composer tells that the experience of the melody “was as if Mary embraced me, put me on my feet and said ‘rejoice and exult, all peoples celebrate, because the work of God will shine forth, the glory of God will shine forth,” he says.
Joy in receiving the Pope with the Magnificat
For our brother, it is a great joy to know that this song, which was already a prophecy for his personal life, will also be part of the prophecies of the Community. “After all this time, and already with the end of my mother’s treatment, I always sang the Magnificat in secret and in tears, and now the canticle will be the canticle of the Community for the Pope, for the Church, a renewal of our joy and our enthusiasm. This for me is a great sign that the Community and the life of each member is one. My consecration and the life of the Community are one and the same thing,” he relates enthusiastically.
“I will jump for joy, because I know that this moment will happen as the prophecy that Our Lady gave me. She will raise up the people again to shine forth the glory of God, and as God’s glory shines forth, we will be sent out into the world to sing that the Almighty has done wonders in us, and that holy is His name and His love will endure from generation to generation. I can’t wait for this day to come,” he concludes.
