Strength

The Most Holy Name of Mary

ImageKristin's Crosses
[public domain]

Immaculate Conception, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1628

Canticle Of Mary

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
for He has looked with favour on His lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His Name.

He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of His arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit. 

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel
for He has remembered His promise of mercy,
the promise He made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever. 

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Glory to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning.
is now, and will be forever.
Amen.

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

ImageKristin's Crosses

Birth of the Virgin Mary

“The day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a day of universal joy, because through the Mother of God, the entire human race was renewed, and the sorrow of the first mother, Eve, was transformed into joy.”

St. John Damascene

Saint Anselm’s Prayer
in Honor of Mary’s Nativity

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin;
give me strength against thine enemies,
and against the enemy of the whole human race.
Give me strength humbly to pray to thee.
Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers,
through the merits of thy most sacred nativity,
which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy,
the hope and solace of its life.

When thou wast born,
O most holy Virgin,
then was the world made light.

Happy is thy stock, holy thy root,
and blessed thy fruit,
for thou alone as a virgin,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
didst merit to conceive thy God,
as a virgin to bear Thy God,
as a virgin to bring Him forth,
and after His birth to remain a virgin.

Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner,
and give me aid, O Lady,
so that just as thy nativity,
glorious from the seed of Abraham,
sprung from the tribe of Juda,
illustrious from the stock of David,
didst announce joy to the entire world,
so may it fill me with true joy
and cleanse me from every sin.

Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent,
that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity
may put a cloak over all my sins.

O holy Mother of God,
flowering as the lily,
pray to thy sweet Son for me,
a wretched sinner.

Amen.