A reading from the prayers and meditations of
Saint Anselm
Mary, great Mary, most blessed of all Marys,
greatest among women, great Lady, great beyond all measure, I long to love you
with all my heart, I want to praise you with my lips, I desire to venerate you
in my understanding, I love to pray to you from my deepest being, I commit
myself wholly to your protection.
Heart of my soul, stir yourself up as much as ever
you can (if you can do anything at all), and let all that is within me praise
the good Mary has done, love the blessing she has received, wonder at her
loftiness, and beseech her kindness; for I need her defense daily, and in my
need I desire, implore, and beseech it, and if it is not according to my
desire, at least let it be above, or rather contrary to, what I deserve.
Queen of angels, Lady of the world, Mother of him
who cleanses the world, I confess that my heart is unclean, and I am rightly
ashamed to turn towards such cleanness, but I turn towards it to be made clean,
in order to come to it. Mother of him who is the light of my heart, nurse of
him who is the strength of my soul, I pray to you with my whole heart to the
extent of my powers. Hear me, Lady, answer me, most mighty helper; let this
filth be washed from my mind, let my darkness be illuminated, my lukewarmness
blaze up, my listlessness be stirred. For in your blessed holiness you are
exalted above all, after the highest of all, your Son, through your omnipotent Son, with your glorious Son, by your blessed Son. So as being above all after
the Lord, who is my God and my all, your Son, in my heart I know and worship
you, love you and ask for your affection, not because of my imperfect desires,
but because it belongs to your Son to make and to save, to redeem and bring
back to life.
Mother of the life of my soul, nurse of the
redeemer of my flesh, who gave suck to the Savior of my whole being — but what
am I saying? My tongue fails me, for my love is not sufficient. Lady, Lady, I
am very anxious to thank you for so much, but I cannot think of anything worthy
to say to you, and I am ashamed to offer you anything unworthy. How can I speak
worthily of the mother of the Creator and Savior, by whose sanctity my sins are
purged, by whose integrity incorruptibility is given me, by whose virginity my
soul falls in love with its Lord and is married to its God. What can I worthily
tell of the mother Of my Lord and God by whose fruitfulness I am redeemed from
captivity, by whose child-bearing I am brought forth from eternal death, by
whose offspring I who was lost am restored, and led back from my unhappy exile
to my blessed homeland.
R. BIessed is the holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of
all praise; * through her has risen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, by whom
we are saved and redeemed.
V. Let us
joyfully celebrate this feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, *
Through her has risen the Sun of Justice, Christ
our God, by whom we are saved and redeemed.
Collect
O LORD God, in the mystery of the incarnation Mary
conceived thy Son in her heart before she conceived him in her womb: grant
that, as we, thy pilgrim people, rejoice in her patronage, we also may welcome
him into our hearts, and so, like her, be made a holy house fit for his eternal
dwelling; we ask this through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and
reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.
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