Magnificat exists to evangelize and to encourage Catholic women to grow in holiness through opening more fully to the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Magnificat is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, an image of the Church, and model for all Christians, especially women.
The story of the visitation, recorded in Luke 1 :39-56, provides the inspiration for Magnificat. Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, who formed Jesus within her, runs with haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also with child. Mary loves, serves, and shares with her the good news of salvation. As Mary reaches out to and greets Elizabeth, the Holy Spirit is imparted to her and the child within. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth loudly praises Mary as blessed among women and praises Jesus as the fruit of her womb.
Overwhelmed with God’s goodness, Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord in a beautiful hymn of praise called the Magnificat.
The essence of Magnificat is the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. Magnificat is a woman-to-woman ministry which calls forth a lively faith in God and His actions in daily life, a love for Mary and for the Church, and deep holiness. Praying, fellowshipping, reading the Sacred Scriptures, teaching, witnessing, and serving one another constitute the principle means by which the women of Magnificat foster such holiness.
Magnificat ministry comes from a desire to share with Catholic women the fruit experienced through the Roman Catholic Church and Charismatic Renewal. Magnificat invites all women to become members.
Magnificat is like a garden filled with all kinds of flowers, each possessing unique beauty and at varying stages of maturity, yet all receiving nourishment from the soil, water, and sun.
This symbolism expresses the manner in which the Holy Spirit is imparted to each, enabling the growth intended by God. Each can enjoy the beauty of the other and celebrate oneness with her without insisting that all become the same.
“There are indeed, many different members, but one body”. (1 Cor. 12:20).
