Wondrous Conception of the Deity,
O Sunflower of our race; who doth not see
All virtues of our nature shine in thee
In such proportion, that thou needst must be
The Mirror of His sweet Humanity?
Great Mother of the Living, how can we
Thy merit circumscribe? Undoubtedly
Thy bless'd co-operation caused to be
For us a heavenly Parentage; and He
Who took thy Flesh, reversed our doom in thee.
As from the virgin-flesh of Adam, she,
The Woman, without mother, born could be,
Created Type of Dual-unity:
So would the new-formed Type be found to be
The fruit of Virginal Maternity.
Jesus in ail things like to us would be,
Saving for Indefectibility -
His attribute alone. With this would He
Endue thee through His Grace, since thine would be
The Nature that thy Son should take from thee.
Here, on the threshold of the Temple, we
Behold His Human Glories shine in thee:
For not less Human than Divine is He.
That which belonged to His Humanity
Before the world's creation, gave He thee.
Thus speaks the Lily all mysteriously,
Of mystic oneness of thy Babe with thee:
In whose white leaves six Emblems fair we see
Of those rare virtues which, transcendently,
Shone in the Cloud of thy Maternity.
Mother of the Creator; how can we,
Poor weaklings, understand these things of thee?
Thou - the Conception of Divinity;
Thou - the Conceiver of the Deity;
God to thy substance joined, ineffably.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote