from Saint Thomas of Villanova
Desiring with all the desire of my soul to praise, as well as my mental insufficiency allows me, the admirable Mary, Mother of God, eminent in every virtue, I could hardly find in Sacred Scripture any words of praise which express to us to the letter her glory and her excellence. For though many mystical things are said of her in the Prophets, and facts are everywhere read from which the greatness of her virtue may plainly be seen, yet in the writings of the Evangelists or the Apostles there is seldom any word said of her, and more rarely still any word of praise, although, to tell the truth, she is not passed over in silence to such a point that, in their writings, some faint ray of her virtues does not break out from certain chinks, as it were, between their words. But from what should we be better able to judge of her glory, and her virtues, and the gifts with which her soul was dowered, than from that wonderful colloquy between herself and the Angel? And in this, over and above the fact that by the Angel's words she is deservedly proclaimed most full of grace and the first amongst all women, the riches of her praise shone out in a much more remarkable way from her own deeds and words. The Angel, being come in with joy, saluted with reverence, saying; 'Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee': full of grace - to be fulfilled with the Godhead, to be overshadowed with might: full of grace - 'of whose fullness we have all received,' from whose abundance the whole world shall be filled; full, indeed, in whose soul no room had been left for sin, no way left open to iniquity. 'The Lord is with thee.' And how with thee? - certainly, not as with me, but as nowhere else: with thee in thy body, with thee in thy mind, with thee in thy soul, with thee by His counsel, with thee in the womb, with thee by His help, with thee in His rising, with thee in His exit, with thee at the end, with thee without end.
Having heard, then, the heavenly message, she thus speaks to the Angel: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word' (Luke 1:38). So it is that, by a great mystery and a most profound instinct of deity, when about to conceive God, she calls to mind her hand- maid condition, that she may give up the Son who springs from her to the service of the world. 'Be it done unto me,' she says, 'according to thy word'; and at her word the Word is made flesh within her womb. Oh, mighty fiat! Oh, effective fiat! Oh, fiat above every fiat! to be venerated with honour without end. By this word 'fiat' the world was made. By this word the Most High created heaven and earth; but such a fiat was not heard in the world, O blessed One! as that which now thou hast uttered. For what was done? who can tell what was done? Nature is astounded, the judgment hesitates, the sense grows dull, the tongue grows mute, the reason fails, the intelligence does not understand what was done in Mary when she said: 'Be it done unto me according to thy word.'
Let us pray
O almighty and merciful God! who hast given to sinners the blessed and ever-virgin Mary to be their refuge and their help, grant that, under her protection, and absolved from all sin, we may attain to the happy effect of Thy mercy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Magnificat
My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is, from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him. He hath showed might in His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel, His servant, being mindful of His mercy. As He spoke to our fathers - to Abraham and to His seed, for ever. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Salve Regina!
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate! thine eyes of mercy towards us, and, after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God! That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Petition
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God! despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin!
- from The May-Book of the Breviary, by Father John Fitzpatrick