Feast of the Annunciation

Mary the Dawn

Mary the dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the Gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!
Mary the Root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the Grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the Wheat-sheaf, Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the Rose-tree, Christ the Rose blood red!
Mary the Font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the Chalice, Christ the Saving Blood!
Mary the Temple, Christ the Temple’s Lord;
Mary the Shrine, Christ the God Adored!
Mary the Beacon, Christ the Haven’s Rest;
Mary the Mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!
Mary the Mother, Christ the Mother’s Son;
Both ever blest while endless ages run. Amen.

Shared by Father Vince I.

The following are points of meditation by Terrence Cardinal Cooke from the a collection of his sermons Meditations of Mary.

"Mary's faith was the most perfect that ever existed and it is most worthy of our admiration and imitation. In speaking about our Lady's faith, we might mention that we do not find the virtue of faith in the soul of Our Divine Lord, for faith is 'the evidence of things we see not' and the human soul of Christ ever beheld the beatific vision of the Divine Essence...

...Eve, contrary to the assurance she had received from God, believed the serpent and brought death into the world. Mary, Our Queen, believed the angel when he told her that she, remaining a virgin, would become the Mother of God and in this way, she brought salvation into the world. St. Augustine says, that when Mary consented to the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, by means of her faith she opened heaven to men...

What tremendous demands were made on Mary's faith! In the beautiful words of St. Alphonsus: 'The Most Holy Virgin had more faith then all men and angels. She saw her Son in the crib of Bethlehem, and believed him the Creator of the world. She saw him fly from Herod and yet believed him the King of kings. She saw him born and believed him eternal. She saw him poor and in need of food, and believed him the Lord of the universe. She saw him lying on straw, and believed him omnipotent. She observed that he did not speak, and she believed him Infinite Wisdom. She head him weep, and believed him the Joy of Paradise...And blessed is she who has believed, because the things promises to her by the Lord shall be accomplished.'...

Excerpt from Conferences by the Servant of God Terence Cooke: Meditations on Mary, Alba House, NY.