It was a startling paradigm shift to realize we treated her so allergically — and one which, I have since noticed, isn't unusual for converts. Dale Ahlquist, President of the American Chesterton Society, told me once that when he was still hanging back from the Church because of Mary, a blunt priest he knew asked him, "Do you believe her soul magnifies the Lord? It's right there in Scripture." Ahlquist reflexively answered back, "Of course I do! I know the Bible!" But even as he replied he was thinking to himself, "I never really thought of that before." It can be a disorienting experience.
Magnify in the Magnificat means to glorify, so basically Mary is saying her soul glorifies God. This is very significant, because she does not say her lifestyle or actions glorify the Lord (i.e. "lead a life pleasing to God"). If Mary had simply said, "My life magnifies/glorifies the Lord," it would not have been significant at all, many people can honestly make this claim, in fact this is what all Christians strive for. However, Mary spoke of her soul, a person cannot do anything to make their soul pleasing to God, our souls are tainted with Original Sin, until our souls are cleansed by God's forgiveness it is impossible for them to magnify/glorify the Lord because they are intrinsicly displeasing to God. Yet Mary's soul does magnify/glorify the Lord -- and there can only be one possible explanation for this, Mary's soul had to be free from the stain of sin for her to make this statement.
Prior to the Magnificat, Elizabeth gave the following greeting to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" If Mary is blessed among women, that has to mean that Mary is the most blessed of ALL women ever. Eve was not created in a state of sin, Eve was created free from sin; therefore, Mary's conception had to be as pure as Eve's creation. For this statement to be correct, we must logically conclude that the Mother of God is superior in all ways to the mother of Cain, and it would have to mean that Mary never committed sin as Eve did.
Yeah, I read the title and winced 'cause I, like you, know what is coming.