Category: The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Posted in DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Prayers and Novena, MARIAN HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on PURITY, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY, The NATIVITY of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Our Morning Offering – 16 October – Praeclara Custos Virginum! Blest Guardian of All Virgin Souls!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 16 October – “The Month of the Most Holy Rosary and of the Angels” – Feast of the Purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Praeclara Custos Virginum!
Blest Guardian of All Virgin Souls!
By Anonymous Latin, 18th Century
Trans. Fr Edward Caswall C.Orat. (1814–1878)

Blest Guardian of all virgin souls!
Portal of bliss to man forgiven!
Pure Mother of Almighty God!
Thou hope of earth and joy of Heaven!

Fair Lily, found amid the thorns!
Most beauteous Dove with wings of gold!
Rod from whose tender root there sprang
That healing Flow’r long since foretold!

Thou Tow’r, against the dragon proof!
Thou Star, to storm-toss’d voyagers dear!
Our course lies o’er a treacherous deep;
Thine be the light by which we steer.

Scatter the mists that round us hang;
Keep far the fatal shoals away
And while through darkling waves we sweep,
Open a path to life and day.

O Jesu, born of Virgin bright!
Immortal glory be to Thee!
Praise to the Father infinite
And Holy Ghost eternally.
Amen

This Hymn originated as the Hymn for Vespers in the Office of the Purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is used for Matins on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Tune: “From High Heaven” Leipzig melody, 1539.

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HYMNS, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN TITLES, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Second Thought for the Day – 14 December – Ave Maris Stella

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Second Thought for the Day – 14 December – Saturday of the Second week of Advent, Year A, the Memorial of St Venantius Fortunatus (c 530 – c 609) and a Marian Saturday

The Ave Maris Stella (“Hail Star of the Sea”) is a plainsong Vespers hymn to Mary.   It was especially popular in the Middle Ages and has been used by many composers as the basis of other compositions.   The creation of the original hymn has been attributed to several people, including Saint Venantius Fortunatus (6th century) Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century) and Hermannus Contractus (11th century).

The text is found in 9th-century manuscripts, kept in Vienna and in the Abbey of Saint Gall.

The melody is found in the Irish plainsong “Gabhaim Molta Bríde”, a piece in praise of St Bridget of Ireland.   There are many translations of this most beautiful and favourite Catholic prayer, the one below is found in The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ave Maris Stella

Hail, O Star of the ocean,
God’s own Mother blest,
ever sinless Virgin,
gate of heav’nly rest.

Taking that sweet Ave,
which from Gabriel came,
peace confirm within us,
changing Eve’s name.

Break the sinners’ fetters,
make our blindness day,
Chase all evils from us,
for all blessings pray.

Show thyself a Mother,
may the Word divine
born for us thine Infant
hear our prayers through thine.

Virgin all excelling,
mildest of the mild,
free from guilt preserve us
meek and undefiled.

Keep our life all spotless,
make our way secure
till we find in Jesus,
joy for evermore.

Praise to God the Father,
honour to the Son,
in the Holy Spirit,
be the glory one.
Amenave maris stellas 14 dec 2019 poss by st venantius fortunatus 14 dec 2019 or st bernard.jpg

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, CHRISTMASTIDE!, HYMNS, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN Saturdays, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The ANNUNCIATION, The INCARNATION, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY, The NATIVITY of JESUS

Our Morning Offering – 14 December – The God whom earth and sea and sky

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 14 December – Saturday of the Second week of Advent, Year A, the Memorial of St Venantius Fortunatus (c 530 – c 609) and a Marian Saturday

The God whom earth and sea and sky
For Mary, The Mother of God
For the Annunciation and Christmas
By St Venantius Fortunatus (c 530 – c 609)

The God whom earth and sea and sky
Adore and praise and magnify,
Whose might they claim, whose love they tell,
In Mary’s body comes to dwell.

O Mother blest! the chosen shrine
Wherein the architect divine,
Whose hand contains the earth and sky,
Has come in human form to lie.

Blest in the message Gabriel brought,
Blest in the work the Spirit wrought,
Most blest, to bring to human birth
The long desired of all the earth.

O Lord, the Virgin-born, to you
Eternal praise and laud are due,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Spirit blest for evermore.

the god whom earth and sea and sky st venantius fortunatus 14 dec 2019 hymn poem for mary

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, DANTE ALIGHIERI!, HYMNS, MARIAN PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, SAINT of the DAY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Our Morning Offering – 5 August – Maiden yet a Mother

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Our Morning Offering – 5 August – Monday of the Eighteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C and the Memorial of the Dedication of Mary Major

Maiden yet a Mother
By Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Tr Msgr Ronald A Knox (1888-1957)

Maiden yet a mother,
daughter of thy Son,
high beyond all other,
lowlier is none;
thou the consummation
planned by God’s decree,
when our lost creation
nobler rose in thee!

Thus His place prepared,
he who all things made
‘mid his creatures tarried,
in thy bosom laid;
there His love He nourished,
warmth that gave increase
to the root whence flourished
our eternal peace.

Nor alone thou hearest
When thy name we hail;
Often thou art nearest
When our voices fail;
Mirrored in thy fashion
All creation’s gird,
Mercy, might compassion
Grace thy womanhood.

Lady, let our vision
Striving heavenward, fail,
Still let thy petition
With thy Son prevail,
Unto whom all merit,
prayer and majesty,
With the Holy Spirit
And the Father be.

Maiden Yet A Mother is a translation of a poem by Durante (Dante) degli Alighieri (c 1265–1321).   It is based upon the opening verses of Canto 33 of the Paradiso from his Divine Comedy in which St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) praises and prays to the Virgin Mother on behalf of Dante.   It was translated from the original Italian into English by the Catholic convert, Monsignior Ronald A Knox (1888-1957).   It is one of the Marian Hymns in the Breviary.maiden-yet-a-mother-dante-10-dec-2017 and 5 aug 2019 - dedication of st mary major.jpg

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, PAPAL Apostolic EXHORTATIONS, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Marian Thought – 3 May – “These virtues of the Mother will also adorn her children…”

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Marian Thoughts – May, the Month of Mary – 3 May 2019

Apostolic Exhortation of St Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
Marialis Cultus – 2 February 1974
To Honour Mary

The Blessed Virgin’s role as Mother leads the People of God to turn with filial confidence to her who is ever ready to listen with a mother’s affection and efficacious assistance. Thus the People of God have learned to call on her as the Consoler of the afflicted, the Health of the sick and the Refuge of sinners, that they may find comfort in tribulation, relief in sickness and liberating strength in guilt.

For she, who is free from sin, leads her children to combat sin with energy and resoluteness.   This liberation from sin and evil (cf. Mt. 6:13)-it must be repeated-is the necessary premise for any renewal of Christian living.

The Blessed Virgin’s exemplary holiness encourages the faithful to “raise their eyes to Mary who shines forth before the whole community of the elect as a model of the virtues.”   It is a question of solid, evangelical virtues – faith and the docile acceptance of the Word of God, generous obedience (cf Lk. 1:38), genuine humility (cf. Lk. 1:48), solicitous charity (cf. Lk. 1:39-56), profound wisdom (cf. Lk. 1:29, 34; 2:19, 33:51), worship of God manifested in alacrity in the fulfillment of religious duties (cf. Lk. 2:21-41), in gratitude for gifts received (cf Lk. 1:46-49), in her offering in the Temple (cf. Lk. 2:22-24) and in her prayer in the midst of the apostolic community (cf. Acts 1:12-14), her fortitude in exile (cf. Mt. 2:13-23) and in suffering (cf. Lk. 2:34-35, 49; Jn. 19 25), her poverty reflecting dignity and trust in God (cf. Lk. 1:48, 2:24) her attentive care for her Son, from His humble birth to the ignominy of the cross (cf. Lk. 2:1-7; Jn. 19:25-27), her delicate forethought (cf. Jn. 2:1-11), her virginal purity (cf. Mt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:26-38), her strong and chaste married love.

These virtues of the Mother will also adorn her children who steadfastly study her example in order to reflect it in their own lives.   And this progress in virtue, will appear as the consequence and the already mature fruit, of that pastoral zeal which springs from devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Second Reading
The Little Office of Mary
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
=================the blessed virgin's exemplary holiness - marialis cultus stpope paul VI 3 may 2019.jpg

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, PAPAL Apostolic EXHORTATIONS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Marian Thoughts – “To Honour Mary” St Paul VI – 2 May 2019

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Marian Thoughts – May, the Month of Mary – 2 May 2019

Apostolic Exhortation of St Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) 
Marialis Cultus – 2 February 1974

To Honour Mary

Finally, insofar as it may be necessary, we would like to repeat that the ultimate purpose of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is to glorify God and to lead Christians, to commit themselves, to a life which is in absolute conformity with His will.   When the children of the Church unite their voices, with the voice of the unknown woman, in the Gospel and glorify the Mother of Jesus, by saying to Him:  “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked” (Lk. 11:27), they will be led to ponder the Divine Master’s serious reply:  “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11:28)   While it is true, that this reply is, in itself, lively praise of Mary, as various Fathers of the Church interpreted it and the Second Vatican Council has confirmed, it is also an admonition to us, to live our lives in accordance with God’s commandments.   It is also an echo of other words of the Saviour:   “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7:21); and again: “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn. 15:14).

Christ is the only way to the Father (cf. Jn. 14:4-11) and the ultimate example to whom the disciple must conform his own conduct (cf. Jn. 13:15), to the extent of sharing Christ’s sentiments (cf. Phil. 2:5), living His life and possessing His Spirit (cf. Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:10-11).   The Church has always taught this and nothing in pastoral activity should obscure this doctrine.    But the Church, taught by the Holy Spirit and benefiting from centuries of experience, recognises, that devotion to the Blessed Virgin, subordinated to worship of the divine Saviour and in connection with it, also has a great pastoral effectiveness and constitutes, a force, for renewing Christian living.

It is easy to see the reason for this effectiveness.   Mary’s many-sided mission to the People of God is a supernatural reality which operates and bears fruit within the body of the Church.   One finds cause for joy, in considering, the different aspects of this mission and seeing how each of these aspects, with its individual effectiveness, is directed towards the same end, namely, producing in the children the spiritual characteristics of the first-born Son.   The Virgin’s maternal intercession, her exemplary holiness and the divine grace which is in her, become, for the human race, a reason for divine hope.

Second Reading
The Little Office of Mary
Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
=================the virgin's maternal intercession - st paul VI - marialis cultus 1974-2 may 2019.jpg

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HYMNS, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The LITTLE OFFICE of MARY

Our Morning Offering – 2 May – ‘O Mary of all women’

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Our Morning Offering – 2 May “Mary’s Month” – Thursday of the Second week of Easter

Opening Hymn from the Little Office of Mary

O Mary of all women,
You are the chosen one,
Who, ancient prophets promised,
Would bear God’s only Son;
All Hebrew generations
Prepared the way to thee,
That in your womb the God-man,
Might come to set us free.

O Mary, you embody
all God taught to our race,
For you are first and foremost
In fullness of His grace;
We praise this wondrous honour
That you gave birth to Him,
Who from you took humanity
And saved us from our sin.opening-hymn-from-the-little-office-of-mary-of-mary-of-all-women-1-may-2018 (1).jpg