The Psalms of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Previous Psalms
👈 Taken from a book of hours, this is an image of King David, author of the Psalms, by Willem Vrelant (early 1460s), Bruges, Belgium.
Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The following prayers follow the model for consecration written by St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort and are recited in preparation for the renewal of our family's consecration to Lord Jesus, Christ our King, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Feast of the Annunciation.
Veni Creator Spiritus
Ave Maris Stella
Magnificat
Gloria
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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
I have for some time been closing my posts with a triple seal:
* the beautiful icon of the Holy Mother of God known to many as the Vladimirskaya Icon;
* the Sub tuum præsidium, said to be the oldest prayer to Our Lady; and
* a short prayer of consecration to the Immaculate heart of Mary.
Over the coming weeks, I shall include a short commentary on one or other of these prayers, (recalling that holy icons are traditionally said to be written like prayers rather than painted).
The Vladimirskaya Icon : The Holy Mother of God and the Blessed Trinity
In the icon, we contemplate our Lord and Saviour being cradled by His mother Mary, Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Ghost, Mother of the Son. St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) unravels the beautiful mysteries of the Blessed Trinity working in, through and with Mary (see his treatise True Devotion to Mary).
[TD, English translation by Fr Faber, 1863].
God the Father has not given His Only-begotten to the world except by Mary. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth—whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the ancient law may have offered up to obtain that treasure for full four thousand years—it was but Mary that merited it; it was but Mary who found grace before God by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God immediately from the Father’s hands. He has given Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her.
The Son of God has made Himself Man; but it was in Mary and by Mary.
God the Holy Ghost has formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent by one of the first ministers of His court.
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God the Father has communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, as far as a mere creature was capable of it, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son, and all the members of His mystical body.
God the Son has descended into her virginal womb, as the new Adam into the terrestrial paradise, to take His pleasure there, and to work in secret the marvels of His grace.
God the Holy Ghost being barren in God—that is to say, not producing another Divine Person—is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It is with her, in her, and of her, that He has produced His Masterpiece, which is a God made Man, and whom He goes on producing in the persons of His members daily to the end of the world. The predestinate are the members of that Adorable Head. This is the reason why He, the Holy Ghost, the more He finds Mary, His dear and indissoluble Spouse, in any soul, becomes the more active and mighty in producing Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ.
It is not that we may say that our Blessed Lady gives the Holy Ghost His fruitfulness, as if He had it not Himself. For inasmuch as He is God, He has the same fruitfulness or capacity of producing as the Father and the Son, only that He does not bring it into action, as He does not produce another Divine Person. But what we want to say is, that the Holy Ghost chose to make use of our Blessed Lady, though He had no absolute need of her, to bring His fruitfulness into action, by producing in her and by her Jesus Christ in His members; a mystery of grace unknown to even the wisest and most spiritual among Christians.
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God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters, and He named it the sea (mare). He has made an assemblage of all His graces, and He has called it Mary (Maria). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty, of splendour, of rarity, and of preciousness, even to His own Son; and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the Saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich.
God the Son has communicated to His Mother all that He has acquired by His Life and by His Death, His infinite merits and His admirable virtues; and He has made her the treasuress of all that His Father has given Him for His inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to His members, and that He communicates His virtues, and distributes His graces. She is His mysterious canal; she is His aqueduct, through which He makes His mercies flow gently and abundantly.
God the Holy Ghost has communicated His unspeakable gifts To Mary, His faithful Spouse; and He has chosen her to be the dispensatrix of all He possesses, in such sort that she distributes to whom she wills, as much as she wills, as she wills, and when she wills, all His gifts and graces. The Holy Ghost gives no heavenly gift to men which He does not pass through her virginal hands. Such has been the Will of God, who has willed that we should have everything in Mary; so that she who impoverished, humbled, and hid herself even to the abyss of nothingness by her profound humility her whole life long, should now be enriched, and exalted by the Most High. Such are the sentiments of the Church and the Holy Fathers.[TD, English translation by Fr Faber, 1863]
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After that we must surely say with the Saints, De Maria nunquam satis; we have not yet praised, exalted, honoured, loved, and served Mary as we ought to do. She has deserved still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and far more service.
[TD, English translation by Fr Faber, 1863]
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers always Glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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