Mission

Mission and Values

Our Mission


We educate young women holistically to learn, lead, and serve in the spirit of Mary’s Magnificat.

Our Heritage


Magnificat High School, a girls' Catholic, college-preparatory high school, founded and sponsored by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, calls young women to live Mary’s Magnificat in the world. 

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  • The Magnificat Prayer

    My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
    my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
    for you have looked with favor
    on your lowly servant.

    From this day all generations will call
    me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is your name.

    You have mercy on those who fear you
    in every generation.

    You have shown the strength of your arm,
    you have scattered the proud in their conceit.

    You have cast down the mighty from their thrones, and have lifted up the lowly.

    You have filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich you have sent away empty.

    You have come to the help of your servant Israel for you have remembered
    your promise of mercy, the promise you
    made to our ancestors, to Abraham and Sarah and their children forever.

Our Core Values

Spiritual Resources

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  • Mission Reflection

    The Joy of Our Hope*
    by Sr. Helen Jean Novy, HM

    We have perhaps read inspiring, mood-lifting, even life-encouraging reflections about hope in times of struggle, agony, and anguish. It is Easter that gives us profound hope in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection. Now we are called to move into the Easter season’s joy.

    What is the relationship of joy and hope?
    What is the relationship of joy and hope and the month of May?

    There are many feasts in the May liturgical calendar that can be an occasion of transporting us to joy.

    On May 1, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, model of fidelity. Each of us treasures the fidelity of a friend or spouse or generous relative or inspiring teacher or dedicated religious.  What a great gift: to be able to count on someone through thick and thin. And what a call: to be a person of fidelity, faithfulness, and joyful witness to the good news of the gospel.

    On May 16 this year, we celebrate the Ascension. How can Jesus leaving earthly existence be an occasion of joy? In the Easter season of 40 days there are scripture readings about Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection, all startling good news: in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus, at the seashore. Even if we are doubters, like Thomas, there is a most encouraging experience of Christ to contemplate: Christ with his “glorified” wounds, at once the reminder of the reality of the outpouring of love through the agony on the Cross AND the confirmation of resurrection to new life. We see Christ advising where to cast nets, cooking fish on the shore, ministering, serving, counseling for the spiritual, vocational, and ministerial growth of faithful disciples—and us, too.

    We can imagine Mary in these 40 days moved in her entire being with resurrection joy as she draws water at the well—Jesus is with me, as she bakes bread—Jesus is with me, as she gathers in the upper room* for prayer and the breaking of the bread with the other disciples, the early Christians—Jesus is with us.

    Perhaps make that a mantra throughout your day, throughout this month: Jesus, you are with me in all moments, in all experiences, in all challenges, in all encounters.

    On May 23, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost fulfilling Christ’s promise never to leave us: I will not leave you orphans. How encouraging to receive the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, courage, prayerfulness, awe and wonder. Commune with Spirit-Sophia who will teach you all things.

    On May 30, we celebrate the unfathomable mystery of the Triune God. A Doctor of the Church has expressed this Trinitarian concept in searing images:

    A Brightness—A Flaring Forth—Fire

    The mystical insight of St. Hildegard of Bingen.

    Knowing the Trinity happens deep inside our hearts in our prayerful openness to God’s revelations from within us. After all, Jesus did not leave this life until he imparted the Spirit who would teach us ALL THINGS!

    We encounter the Trinity in all that has flowed forth from Trinitarian actions: the creation of ALL THAT IS. We learn of the Trinity in the wonders of the natural world burgeoning in the springtime of May. If the Creator speaks in the Language of Trees, then contemplating trees and any other created reality should be a source of joy.

    Read the pages, God is speaking
    Creator speaks in languages of trees
    Hear the singing of divinity
    The flowers sing of beauty.***

    “The world IS charged with the grandeur of God.”****

    And we surely learn of the Trinitarian life through encounters with other people, other Christs, women and men icons of Christ.

    HOPE: our trust in Jesus who has promised never to leave us
    JOY: our communing with the Trinitarian life deep within us

    Ultimately, God is our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope.
    God is the Source of Our Joy.

    _______________

    *Title of one of the choral pieces in Linda Chase’s Oratorio on Laudato Sí
    **Pope St. John Paul II’s Encyclical “Dominum and Vivificantem” reflects on four scenes in the Upper Room: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dominum-et-vivificantem
    ***Linda J. Chase https://soundcloud.com/lchase-1/creator-speaks-in-languages-of-trees
    **** Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ. Emphasis added.

  • Circle of Prayer

  • Daily Prayer

Catholic Identity

As a Catholic school founded by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Catholic faith and identity is foundational to Magnificat's academic, co-curricular, and spiritual programming. That faith calls us to be a community that is welcoming to students and families of all faith traditions in addition to those who may not practice any faith tradition. Regardless of faith background, all Magnificat students are encouraged to explore and deepen their own understanding and practices of faith and spirituality throughout their four years at Magnificat.

With Mary as the model of a strong woman and faithful disciple, speaking truth about the realities of her world in her Magnificat song of praise, students grow into models for others.
20770 Hilliard Blvd, Rocky River, OH 44116 | Phone: 440.331.1572 | Email: info@maghs.org
Magnificat High School, a girls' Catholic college-preparatory high school, founded and sponsored by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, educates young women holistically to learn, lead, and serve in the spirit of Mary’s Magnificat.