Of the Blessed Virgin Mary

ALMIGHTY God, who didst send forth thy Son, made of a woman, that we might be redeemed and receive the adoption of sons : Grant that, beholding what Majesty did become incarnate for our sakes, we may, with all generations, call her blessed, through whom as Virgin-Mother of the Lord we have been thus blest : to thine honour and glory, who livest and reignest in the unity of the Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The People's Missal
(Anglican drawing from Sarum and other Uses)
The Revd E. A. L. Clarke, A.K.C
1919

So Vincent, do you pray the Rosary?

Absolutely! It is one of the greatest gifts to us and a most powerful weapon in overcoming evil motions within one's heart as well as in the world. But chiefly it draws us to behold the Lord Jesus Christ through His Mother's eyes. There has never been a more perfect human vision of Jesus than through Mary's sinless eyes and with Mary's immaculate heart.
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My method in praying the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to pray the traditional fifteen mysteries. If I cannot do this at one time without interruption, I apportion them out through the course of the day. I often use the Rosary Meditations in the Anglo-Catholic St. Augustine's Prayer Book, a true treasure.

I pray the Luminous Mysteries of Pope John Paul II (followed by the Walsingham Litany of Our Lady) at various times and especially when travelling.

On days that are exceedingly busy, it is important to pray more not less.

I always use the Fatima Prayer and the traditional English versions of the prayers I learnt as an Anglo-Catholic child. Sometimes I pray the Rosary in Latin - especially when I feel distracted by my own stray thoughts. I continue to pray for the conversion of Russia through the Immaculate Heart of Mary when offering the Holy Rosary.

In seeking the Face of Christ whilst praying, I say the Jesus Prayer before each Hail Mary in this fashion: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

I hope that answers my kind anonymous Reader's question. God bless.

Mater Dolorosa

The Humility and Modesty of Mary

Mary’s Modesty Exerts a Gentle Sway

When first He went out to preach, she kept apart from Him; she interfered not with His work; and, even when He was gone up on high, yet she, a woman, went not out to preach or teach, she seated not herself in the Apostolic chair, she took no part in the priest's office; she did but humbly seek her Son in the Holy Mass of those, who, though her ministers in heaven, were her superiors in the Church on earth.

Nor, when she and they had left this lower scene, and she was a Queen upon her Son's right hand, not even then did she ask of Him to publish her name to the ends of the world, or to hold her up to the world's gaze, but she remained waiting for the time, when her own glory should be necessary for His. (…)

When dispute arose about her among her children, she hushed it; when objections were urged against her, she waived her claims and waited; till now, in this very day, should God so will, she will win at length her most radiant crown, and, without opposing voice, and amid the jubilation of the whole Church, she will be hailed as immaculate in her conception.

John Henry Newman Discourses Addressed to Congregations
Discourse17. The Glories of Mary for the Sake of Her Son (1849)

Today is the Birthday
of the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman.

Hymn to the Holy Family of Walsingham

for Christmastide to Candlemas - A Hymn inspired by St. Odo

Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

Mother of mercy, peace, and love,

Thy Child is God come from above.

As Christ thou lovest we would too

In all we ponder, say or do.

Joseph the Guardian, brave and wise,

Nothing was hidden from thine eyes.

By dreams the Lord God guided thee

May we follow with constancy.

Father of Jesus, God Most High,

Thy love so great brought Our Lord nigh,

Thy Child, thy gift to free a slave,

Gave thee his Life, the world to save.

A child for us, Friend crucified,

Arisen, present by our side,

Victim and Priest, Oh Mystery!

Lord Jesus Christ, we worship thee.

Glory to God, Father of lights

And to the Son, Lord Jesus Christ,

And Holy Ghost the Comforter:

One God in glory for ever.

Text: Copyright © 2005 by Vincent Uher. 
All rights reserved.
Suggested Tunes: Cornish by M. Lee Suitor

A new hymn tune has been written by Noel Jones that is splendid.

This text has also been sung to these tunes:

HursleyDe Tar by Calvin Hampton;
and Keble by J.B. Dykes

+Laus Deo.

It was she

Within her virginal womb Christ our Lord already bore the exalted title of Head of the Church; in a marvelous birth she brought Him forth as the source of all supernatural life, and presented Him newly born, as Prophet, King and Priest to those who, from among Jews and Gentiles, were the first to come to adore Him. Furthermore, her only Son, condescending to His mother's prayer in “Cana of Galilee” performed the miracle by which “His disciples believed in Him.”

It was she, the Second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother's rights and her mother's love were included in the holocaust. Thus she who, according to the flesh, was the mother of our Head, through the added title of pain and glory became, according to the Spirit, the mother of all His members.

It was she who, through her powerful prayers, obtained that the spirit of our Divine Redeemer, already given on the Cross, should be bestowed, accompanied by miraculous gifts, on the newly founded Church at Pentecost; and finally, bearing with courage and confidence the tremendous burden of her sorrows and desolation, she, truly the Queen of Martyrs, more than all the faithful “filled up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ...for His Body, which is the Church”; and she continues to have for the Mystical Body of Christ, born of the pierced Heart of the Savior, the same motherly care and ardent love with which she cherished and fed the Infant Jesus in the manger.

Excerpt from Mystici Corporis Encyclical Letter
Pope Pius XII, June 29, 1943