NV-Annunciation

ACT OF OF CONSECRATION TO JESUS LIVING IN MARY
FOR THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION

Consecration to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, through the Blessed Virgin Mary
(according St. Louis Marie de Montfort's formula)

O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always Virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine Incarnation.

I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave, in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made, so solemnly, to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom.

Hail, then, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, O Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject, which is under God. Hail, O sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which, in my lowliness, I present to thee. I, (Name), a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.

In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choose thee this day for my Mother and mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity.

Receive, O benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner; and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. I declare that I wish, henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.

O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He has redeemed me by thee, by thee He may receive me! O Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God; and for that end receive me among those whom thou lovest and teachest, whom thou leadest, nourishest and protectest as thy children and thy slaves.

O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thine intercession and by thine example, to the fullness of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen.

O Jesus Living in Mary
(recommended prayer of St. Louis Marie de Montfort)

O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness; in the fullness of Thy power; in the perfection of Thy ways; in the truth of Thy virtues; in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.

Pray the Angelus in honor of the Annunciation

1. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Ghost!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

2. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

3. And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Pray for us O Holy Mother of God
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord, Amen.

NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR THE ANNUNCIATION
(usual feast day March 25th, but transferred to April 8th this year, due to coinciding with Holy Week)

What is a Novena?
A novena is a traditional devotion consisting of specific prayers recited on nine successive days. Besides being a form of praise, a novena is frequently offered for a particular intention. The first novena took place in the Cenacle, during the nine days preceding Pentecost, or the coming of the Holy Ghost. As a regular popular custom, this practice began in 12th century Christianity and continues to be beneficial today as a way of praying for healing, protection or other blessings for ourselves or others.

This particular novena is prayed to God in honor of and thanksgiving for the Annunciation—the announcement made to Our Lady by the Archangel Gabriel, that God wished her to be the mother of His Divine Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. At Mary's "fiat" or agreement, the Incarnation took place, that is to say the second Person of the Holy Trinity became man, taking on Himself a human body within the womb of the Blessed and Perpetual Virgin Mary. In praying this Novena, as in the case of all prayer, it is good to begin by opening ourselves wholeheartedly to God's will, offering a simple act of trust in God's wisdom and in His providential love for us all, that disposes all things for the ultimate benefit of our souls and their salvation.

How to Pray This Novena
This novena is based on the history of the events leading up to the Annunciation, including extracts from The City of God by the Venerable Mary fo Agreda, which reveal the way in which God prepared Mary for the visit of the Archangel Gabriel. Each day of the novena is divided into the following parts: (1) an look at the history leading up to the Annunciation; (2) if applicable, the actual words spoken by Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda; (3) an occasional quote from Holy Scripture wherever relevant; (4) an occasional quote from a saint or a pope (5) a Meditation; (6) a Prayer; (7) after mentioning your intention, pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary; (8) a Closing Prayer.

Pope Leo XIII

FIRST DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: A True Appreciation of the Event

The Importance of the Annunciation
The main event of the Annunciation has two chief branches that shoot forth from this central dogma of the Christian Church and the base of the economy of our Salvation.

(1) The first is that God becomes man: the Divine Nature takes on the additional lesser nature of man. Jesus Christ, Who is God as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, takes upon Himself the robe of humanity. He remains one Person, but, at the same time, having two natures: the Nature of God and the nature of man. This is necessary for the salvation of mankind: for it is man who has offended God through sin and therefore it is man who must pay and atone for that sin. Yet is God who has been offended and sinned against, and God is infinite in all respects, therefore man has committed an infinite offense. Now, man is finite and, as such, cannot pay infinitely. Only God is infinite and only God can pay an infinite debt. But God is not the one who sinned—man sinned; so man has to pay! So someone has to be found who is both human and infinite: for to pay an infinite debt, he needs to be infinite, and ot pay a human debt he needs to be human. Hence the Incarnation (which means "in the flesh" or "becoming flesh"): the infinite God takes on finite human flesh, so that finite mankind can pay an infinite debt. Without that debt being paid, there can be no salvation—sin has its price and it must be paid. So, thank you Jesus and thank you Mary—through whom Jesus took on that redeeming flesh or body.

(2) Mary becomes the Mother of God. This divine motherhood is at the root of all Mary's other privileges. As a feast, the Annunciation belongs both to Christ and to His Blessed Mother, since the Word was made incarnate at the very instant of Mary's consent. This feast, prepared by that of St. Gabriel (March 24th), recalls the greatest event in history, the Incarnation of Our Lord in the womb of a Virgin. On this day the Word was made flesh, and united to Itself forever the humanity of Jesus. March 25th is indeed the anniversary of the ordination of Christ as a Priest, for it is by the anointing of the Divinity that He has become Supreme Pontiff, Mediator between God and man. The mystery of the Incarnation has earned for Mary her most glorious title, that of "Mother of God." Since the title of Mother of God makes Mary all powerful with her Son, we should have recourse to her intercession with Him for the sanctification and salvation of our souls.

The Saints and Popes on the Annunciation
Pope Leo XIII, in one of his many encyclicals on the Rosary, tells how we have access to the Son through the Mother: "Although the Eternal Son of God willed for the redemption and glory of man to assume the nature of man, and thereby to enter into a kind of mystical marriage with the whole human race, yet He did not do so until the absolutely free consent of His Mother-to-be was given. As Aquinas expresses it so strikingly and truly, Mary acted as it were in the person of the whole human race: 'Through the Annunciation, the consent of the Virgin given in place of the whole human race was awaited.' Therefore, we may with no less propriety and truth affirm that we can receive absolutely nothing from that treasury of all grace which the Lord has brought forth—since 'grace and truth came through Jesus Christ' (John 1:17)—nothing, unless, God so willing, it is bestowed on us through Mary. So that, just as no one can have access to the Father Most High except through the Son, so, in almost the same way, no one can have access to the Son except through the Mother."

God prepares Mary: Day One
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

In order to proceed with a dignity befitting Himself, God prepared most holy Mary in a singular manner during the nine days immediately preceding this mystery. On the first day of this most blessed novena the heavenly Princess Mary, after a slight rest, according to the example of her father David and according to the diurnal order and arrangement laid out for Her by the Lord, left her bed at midnight (Psalm 118:62), and, prostrate in the presence of the Most High, commenced her accustomed prayer and spiritual exercises. Her most holy soul was raised in spirit to a new and higher habitation, closer to the same Lord and more remote from all earthly and passing things.

She felt at once, that she was being prepared by those illuminations and purifications, which at other times she had experienced in some of the most exalted visions of the Divinity. The Divinity manifested Itself not by an intuitive, but by an abstractive vision … This vision was more exalted and more profound than the others of that kind; since this heavenly Lady made herself more capable day by day and, because she made such perfect use of graces, she disposed herself for ever greater ones.

In this vision our Princess Mary learned most high secrets of the Divinity and of its perfections, and especially of God's communications outside of Himself in the work of creation. She saw that it originated in the goodness and liberality of God, that creatures were not necessary for supplementing His Divine existence, nor for His infinite glory, since without them He was glorious through the interminable eternities before the creation of the world. Many sacraments and secrets were manifested to our Queen, which neither can nor should be made known to all; for she alone was the only one, the chosen one, selected by the highest King and Lord of creation for these delights.

She perceived and understood, how the Lord in the beginning created Heaven and earth; in how far and in what way it was void, and how the darkness was over the face of the abyss; how the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters and how, at the divine command, light was made, and what was its nature; how, after the darkness was divided, it was called night and the light day, and how thus the first day was made. She knew the size of the earth, its longitude, latitude and depth, its caverns, hell, limbo and purgatory with their inhabitants; the countries, climes, the meridians and divisions of the world, and all its inhabitants and occupants.

With the same clearness she knew how the angels were made on the first day; she was informed of their nature, conditions, diversity, hierarchies, offices, grades and virtues. The rebellion of the bad angels was revealed to her, their fall and the occasion and the cause of that fall, though the Lord always concealed from her that which concerned herself. She understood the punishment and the effects of sin in the demons, beholding them as they are in themselves; and at the conclusion of the first day, the Lord showed to her, how she too was formed of this lowly earthly material and endowed with the same nature as all those, who return to the dust; He did not however say, that she would again return to it; yet He gave her such a profound knowledge of the earthly existence, that the great Queen humiliated herself to the abyss of nothingness; being without fault, she debased herself more than all the children of Adam with all their miseries.

This whole vision and all its effects the Most High arranged in such a way as to open up in the heart of Mary the deep trenches that were required for the foundations of the edifice, which He wished to erect in her: namely so high a one, that it would reach up to the substantial and hypostatic union of the human and divine nature. And as the dignity of Mother of God was without limits and to a certain extent infinite, it was becoming that she should be grounded in a proportionate humility, such as would be without limits though still within the bounds of reason itself. Attaining the summit of virtue, this blessed one among women humiliated herself to such an extent, that the most Holy Trinity was, as it were, fully paid and satisfied, and (according to our mode of understanding) constrained to raise her to the highest position and dignity possible among creatures and nearest to the Divinity itself.

Meditation
We pass over this mystery of the Annunciation and Incarnation much too quickly and with too great an indifference. It is the central event in the whole history of the world—it is the event that starts the chain of events that will culminate with the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. For too many it is "just another feast!" How hurtful that must be to the Holy Trinity and Our Lady, for Whom this event was the "marriage" between God and man! At least, by taking the time to make this novena, we are showing God that someone cares! Let us resolve to think often, in our many free or 'day-dreaming' moments of the day to think and follow Our Lady in this her preparation for a Mystical Marriage beyond compare. Let us have the attitude of a bride or a groom looking forward to the fast approaching wedding ceremony, during which time most of their thoughts and efforts center upon that great event.

Our Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how great was the honor given to you at the Annunciation! Within your humble home in the little town of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit willed to perform a miracle that was the masterpiece of infinite power—the Incarnation of the Son of God. God sent Gabriel, one of His glorious archangels, to deliver the most important message in the history of mankind, announcing the coming of the Savior of the world and the selection of you to be His Mother. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy that Christ would be born of the family of David.

With heavenly homage the angelic messenger greeted you: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28). Never before did angel greet man with the words, "Hail, full of grace.""The Lord is with thee." In all humility you attributed this holiness to God alone, working wondrously within you. When the Triune God destined and elevated you, a mortal Virgin, to the dignity of Mother of the Redeemer, the Father had to endow you with a fullness of perfection suitable for such a dignity. The Son, the Eternal Wisdom of God, in choosing you for His Mother, bestowed on you a certain fullness of grace, so that as you gave Christ His human nature, Christ, in a certain sense, raised you as close to God as a mere creature can come. And the Holy Spirit, who descended upon you in the Incarnation with all His fullness, must have conferred upon you such treasures of sanctity as would prepare you to receive the Son of God in your most pure womb. You possessed, according to the words of the archangel, such a fullness of grace that you were worthy to become the Mother of God.

He was with you in a manner more intimate, more perfect, and more divine than He ever was or will be with any other creature. He was with you not only by His essence, His presence, and His power, as He is with all His creatures. He was with you not only with His actual grace, touching your heart and enlightening your understanding. He was with you not only by His sanctifying grace, making you pleasing in His sight, as He is present with all the just. He was with you not only by a special protection guiding you in His ways and leading you securely to salvation. He was with you, and with you alone, in an unspeakable manner by bodily presence. In you, and of your substance, was this day formed His adorable Body. In you He reposed for nine months, with His whole Divinity and humanity.

[Mention Request}

MARY, MY MOTHER, the angel said to you, "Blessed art thou among women." Your blessedness was due to your unexcelled sanctity. You would be hailed by all generations as blessed above all other women because you are the Mother of God and at the same time a spotless Virgin. You are blessed because of the fullness of grace you received; blessed because of the greatness of the mercy to be bestowed on you; blessed because of the Majesty of the Person Who was to take flesh of you; blessed because of the glory which would become yours.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

SECOND DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: The Importance of Mary to God

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Two
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation
Following up his intention, the supreme Lord continued the favors, by which He wished to dispose most holy Mary for the Incarnation during nine days. On the second day, at the same hour of midnight, the Virgin Mary was visited in the same way as on the first day. The divine power raised her up by the same elevations and illuminings to prepare her for the visions of the Divinity. He manifested Himself again in an abstractive manner as on the first day, and she was shown the works performed on the second day of the creation. She learnt how and when God divided the waters (Genesis 1:6), some above and others below, establishing the firmament, and above it the crystal, known also as the watery heaven. Her insight penetrated into the greatness, order, conditions, movements and all the other qualities and conditions of the heavens.

And in the most prudent Virgin this knowledge did not lay idle, nor remain sterile; for immediately the most clear light of the Divinity overflowed in her, and inflamed and emblazoned her with admiration, praise and love of the goodness and power of God. Being transformed as it were with a godlike excellence, she produced heroic acts of all the virtues, entirely pleasing to his divine Majesty. And as in the preceding first day God had made Her a participant of his wisdom, so on this second day, He made Her in corresponding measure a participant in the divine Omnipotence, and gave Her power over the influences of the heavens, of the planets and elements, commanding them all to obey her. Thus was this great Queen raised to Sovereignty over the sea, the earth, the elements and the celestial orbs, with all the creatures, which are contained therein.

This sovereignty and supreme power belonged to the dignity of most holy Mary on account of the reason mentioned above; and besides for two other special ones; the first: because this Lady was the privileged Queen, exempt from the common law of sin and its consequences: therefore she was not to be put in the same general class with the sons of Adam. The second reason is, because her most holy Son was Himself to obey this heavenly Queen and his Mother. Since He was the Creator of the elements and of all things, it follows naturally that they should obey her, to whom the Creator subjected Himself, and that they should be commanded by her.

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"The Incarnation lies at the bottom of all sciences, and is their ultimate explanation. It is the secret beauty in all arts. It is the completeness of all true philosophies. It is the point of arrival and departure to all history. The destinies of nations, as well as of individuals, group themselves around it. It purifies all happiness, and glorifies all sorrow. It is the cause of all we see, and the pledge of all we hope for. It is the great central fact both of life and immortality, out of sight of which man's intellect wanders in the darkness, and the light of a Divine life falls not on his footsteps ...

"It is the Feast of the Incarnation. God is immutable. Our jubilee must be in Him. We must nestle deeper down in His Bosom, while science, and material prosperity, and a literature which has lost all echoes of Heaven, are thrusting men to the edge of external things, and forcing them down the precipice. It may be a better glory for us, if our weakness fail not in the wilderness, that our faith should have to be untied from all helps of sight and sound, and left alone in the unworldly barrenness where God and His eagles are.
It was a wonderful life which the Eternal Word led in the Bosom of the Father. It fascinates us. We can hardly leave off speaking of it. Yet behold! He seeks also a created home. Was His eternal home wanting in aught of beauty or of joy?

There could be nothing lacking in the Bosom of the Father. God were not God, if He fell short of self-sufficiency. Yet it is as if God could not contain Himself, as if He were overcharged with the fulness of His Own essence and beauty, or rather as if He were outgrowing the illimitable dimensions of Himself. It seems as He must go out of Himself, and summon creatures up from nothing, and fall upon their neck, and overwhelm them with His love, and so find rest.

The Word in the Father's Bosom seeks another home, a created home. He will seem to leave His uncreated home, and yet He will not leave it. He will appear as though He were allured from it, while in truth He will go on filling it with His delights, as He has ever done. He will go, yet He will stay even while He goes. Whither, then, will He go? What manner of home is fit for Him, Whose home is the Bosom of the Father, and Who makes that home the glad wonder that it is? All possible things lay before Him at a glance, as on a map. They lay before Him also in the sort of perspective which time gives, and by which it makes things new. His home shall be wonderful enough; for there is no limit to His wisdom. It shall be glorious enough; for there is no boundary to His power. It shall be dear to Him beyond word or thought; for there is no end to His love.

Nevertheless such as a God's power and a God's wisdom and a God's love can choose out of a God's possibilities, His created home shall be. Who then shall dream, until he has seen it, what that thrice infinite perfection of the Holy Trinity shall choose out of His inexhaustible possibilities? Who, when he has seen it, shall describe it as he ought? The glorious, adorable, and eternal Word, in the ample range of His unrestricted choice, predestinated the Bosom of Mary to be His created home, and fashioned, with well-pleased love, the Immaculate Heart which was to tenant it with Himself. O Mary, O marvelous mystical creature, O resplendent mote, lost almost to view in the upper light of the supernal fountains! Who can sufficiently abase himself before thee, and weep for the want of love to love thee rightly, thee whom the Word so loved eternally?

Meditation
Mary would be for God a Paradise, a Palace, the place of the greatest heavenly joy outside of Heaven and the Godhead Itself. God Himself had designed this home for Himself before the very beginning of time. Mary was to be His home, His court, His Castle, His refuge, His solace. She is so special that, as St. Louis de Montfort writes: "
"Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High, the knowledge and possession of which He has reserved to Himself. Mary is the admirable Mother of the Son, who took pleasure in humbling and concealing her during her life in order to favor her humility, although in His heart He esteemed and loved her above all angels and all men. Mary is the “sealed fountain” (Canticles 4:12), the faithful spouse of the Holy Ghost, to whom He alone has entrance. Mary is the sanctuary and the repose of the Holy Trinity, where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, not excepting His dwelling between the Cherubim and Seraphim. Nor is any creature, no matter how pure, allowed to enter into that sanctuary except by a great and special privilege. I say with the saints, that Mary is the terrestrial paradise of the New Adam, where He was made flesh by the operation of the Holy Ghost, in order to work there incomprehensible marvels. She is the grand and divine world of God, where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High, where He hid, as in her bosom, His only Son, and in Him all that is most excellent and most precious. Oh, what grand and hidden things that mighty God has wrought in this admirable creature"

Let us abase ourselves before God and confess that our ideas, notions, attitudes, appreciation, respect and honor of Mary are far below the levels that they should be; and let us ask of Him the grace to greatly improve our deficiencies in these day that lead up to that great feast of the Annunciation and the Incarnation.

Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how pleasing to God was your humility! You were troubled not at the appearance of the angel, but at what he said. Your fear arose entirely from your humility, which was disturbed at the sound of praises far exceeding your own lowly estimate of yourself. Had the angel said you were the most wicked sinner in the world, your wonder would not have been so great as it was at the sound of his praises.

But Gabriel comforted you, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God." As Christ was pleased to be comforted by an angel, so was it necessary that you should be encouraged by one. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found, not taken, grace, as Lucifer tried to take it. You have not lost grace, as Adam lost it, but you have found it because you have desired and sought it. You have found uncreated grace; that is, God Himself became your Son; and with that grace you have found and obtained every created good.

The more your humility was tried, the more lowly you became in your own estimation. Your humility was rewarded with the greatest privilege ever given to a creature. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High." By your humility you have found such great grace with God that you were chosen to co-operate with His Divine Son in restoring man to a dignity far superior to that which he had lost by sin. What greater wonder could the world behold than a woman become the Mother of God, and a God clothed in human flesh? Mary, by your humility, you became the Mother of your Creator. The Creator, in His goodness, became the Son of His own creature.

The Holy Ghost would work in you the greatest work of His omnipotence: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." By His almighty power He would form the body of the Savior of the world, and the Divine Son would unite it to Himself forever. How God rewarded your humble and deep faith! "And, therefore, the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God." Though you did not know the meaning of the archangel's inspired words, you serenely submitted to the Will of God.

In doing so, you uttered the most gracious act of humility that ever fell from human lips: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." With a "fiat" God created light, heaven, earth; but with your "fiat" God became Man. O powerful answer, which rejoiced Heaven and brought an immense sea of graces and blessings into the world! It was an answer which had scarcely fallen from your lips, before it drew the only-begotten Son of God from the bosom of His Eternal Father, to become Man in your most pure womb!

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, the Divine Motherhood meant for you deepest suffering. To become the Mother of God meant, for you, a knowledge of and a share in the Passion of Christ, that would plunge you into the depths of a sea of lonely desolation. You became a victim and holocaust to the Divine Will, the Queen of Martyrs, the most perfect imitator of the Victim of Calvary. Since suffering is the measure and the very law of love, I cannot imagine the greatness of your love for us, your children. The moment of your exaltation, the highest to which God could raise a creature, finds you sunk in the abyss of your own nothingness. Fully acknowledging your unworthiness to be the Mother of Christ, you accepted the exalted privilege only in obedience to the Divine Will. You called yourself the servant of Him Who for thirty years would be subject to you. How wondrous you are in your humility! Like you, let me realize my own nothingness. I cannot advance in the path of sanctity without humility which is the heart and soul of virtue. If I have humility, God may flood my soul with grace here and exalt it eternally in Heaven.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

THIRD DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: To Communicate What We Learn and Have to Others

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Three
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

On the third day of preparation, the Divinity manifested Itself anew in abstractive vision. On this day she was informed of the works of creation as they happened on the third day. She learned when and how the waters, which were beneath the firmament, flowed together in one, disclosing the dry land, which the Lord called earth, while He called the waters the sea. She learned in what way the earth brought forth the fresh herbs, and all plants and fructiferous trees with their seeds, each one according to its kind.

She was taught and she understood the greatness of the sea, its depth and its divisions, its correspondence with the streams and the fountains, that take their rise from it and flow back into it; the different plants and herbs, the flowers, trees, roots, fruits and seeds; she perceived how all and each one of them serve for the use of man. All this our Queen understood and penetrated with the keenest insight more clearly, distinctly and comprehensibly than Adam or Solomon. In comparison with her, all those skilled in medicine in the world would appear but ignorant, even after the most thorough studies and largest experience. Mary knew all that was hidden from sight, as Wisdom says (Wisdom 7:21); and just as she learned it without any fiction, she also communicates it without envy. Whatever Solomon says there in the book of Wisdom, was realized in her with incomparable and eminent perfection.

On some occasions she made use of this science in order to exercise her charity toward the poor and needy. The same was true of all the rest of the sciences, whenever she found it desirable, or necessary, to make use of them. For she was Mistress of all of them more perfectly than any of the mortals who ever did excel in any art or science. She understood the qualities and activities of the stones, herbs and plants, and in her was true what Christ promised to the Apostles and first Christians, that poisonous draughts would not hurt them. This privilege belonged to her, so that neither poison nor any other thing could ever injure her or cause her any harm except with her permission.

These privileges and favors she always kept concealed, and she made no use of them for herself, desiring not to be deprived of a share in the suffering, which had been chosen by her Son. Before conceiving Him and becoming His Mother, she was inspired with divine knowledge and science concerning the suffering of the Word made flesh. And when she became Mother she saw and experienced this truth in her Son, and therefore she gave a greater freedom, or rather a more strict command, to creatures to afflict her. Hence, as the Most High did not wish His only and chosen Spouse to be continually afflicted by creatures, even though she herself desired it, He often restrained them and neutralized their operations, so that she might occasionally enjoy the delights of the most high King.

There is another special favor, which the most holy Mary received for the benefit of the mortals on the third day. God manifested to her the desire of His divine love to come to the aid of men and to raise them up from all their miseries. The Most High gave to Mary a certain kind of participation of His own attributes, in order that afterwards, as the Mother and Advocate of sinners, she might intercede for them. Filled with this love and charity, she would, if necessary, have delivered herself an infinite number of times to the flames, to the sword and to the most exquisite torments of death for their salvation. All the torments, sorrows, tribulations, pains, and infirmities she would have accepted and suffered; and she would have considered them a great delight for the salvation of sinners. Whatever all men have suffered from the beginning of the world till this hour, and whatever they will suffer till the end, would have been a small matter for the love of this most merciful Mother. Let therefore mortals and sinners understand what they owe to most holy Mary.

From that day on, she continued to be the Mother of kindness and great mercy, and for two reasons: Firstly, because from that moment she sought with an anxious desire to communicate without envy the treasures of grace, which she had understood and received. Secondly, because this love of most holy Mary for the salvation of men was one of the principal dispositions required for conceiving the eternal Word. It was fitting that she should be all mercy, kindness, piety and clemency, who was herself to conceive and give birth to God made man, since He in His mercy, clemency and love desired to humiliate Himself to the lowliness of our nature, and wished to be born of her in order to suffer for men.

The most holy Mary came out of this vision with ever increasing fervor, and during all the rest of the day she occupied herself in the prayers and petitions commanded her by the Lord.

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"There were no creatures to sing anthems, in Heaven, when that choice was made [to make Mary the Mother of God]. No angelic thunders of songs rolled round the Throne in oceans of melodious sound, when the Word decreed that [Mary would be the] primal object of His adorable predilection. No creations of almost Divine intelligence were there to shroud their faces with their wings, and brood in self-abasing silence on the beauty of that created Home of their Creator. There was only the silent song of God's Own awesome life, and the eternal voiceless thunder of His good pleasure.

"Forthwith—we must speak in our own human way—the Holy Trinity begins to adorn the Word's created home [Mary] with a marvelous outpouring of creative skill and love. She was to be the head of all mere creatures, having a created person as well as a created nature, while her Son's created nature, with the Uncreated Person, was to be the absolute Head of all creation, the unconfused and uncommingling joining of God and of creation. She was to be a home for the Word, as the Bosom of the Father had been a home for Him.

"Each Person of the Holy Trinity claimed her for His Own by a special relationship. She was the eternally elected daughter of the Father. She was the Mother of the Son. She was the Spouse of the Holy Ghost; for He it was Who was wedded to her soul by the most transcendent unions which the kingdom of grace can boast, and it was He who out of her spotless Blood made that undefiled Flesh which the Word was to assume and to animate with His human Soul.

"Thus she was marked with an indelible character by Each of the Three Divine Persons. She was Their eternal idea, nearest to that Idea which was the cause of all creation, the Idea of Jesus; she was necessary, as They had willed it, to the realization of that Idea. Such is the bare statement of the place which Mary occupies in the decrees of God. All we could add would be weak compared with this. Words cannot magnify her whom thought can hardly reach; and praise is almost presumption—as if what lies so close to God could be honored by our approval. Our praise of Mary, in this one respect like our praise of God, of which it is in truth a part, is best embodied in our wonder and our love."

Meditation
As the saying goes: "It is the property of good to diffuse itself"—which means to say that goodness seeks to share its goodness. In the above reading, we see that Our Lady was given many good things by God—knowledge and understanding of many things. She did not keep this knowledge and understanding for herself, but she sought to diffuse it, to spread it around, to share it. Too often we are jealous of what we have and we are envious of what others have. Jealousy and envy are often confusedly thought to be the same thing, but they are not—jealousy is focused upon what one already has and it seeks to guard and keep what one has; whereas envy is focused on what one has not got, but sees that the neighbor does have it, so it feels sore about not having what the neighbor has in his possession.

St. Paul sheds some light on the attitude that we should have when he says: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you" ... ""I delivered unto you that which I also received" (Corinthians 11:23; 15:3). All the good that we have belongs to God, because it ultimately comes from God: "What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). Jesus Himself says: "Freely have you received, freely give!" (Matthew 10:8).

Many are the gifts and graces; acquisitions and advantages that we have received by the Providence of God, let us, like Mary, use those things for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. Let us not bury our talent in the ground, but let us use it and render to God many times more than what He has given us. This is what Our Lady did!

Prayer
MARY, MY MOTHER, the instant that you gave your consent to the archangel, the Holy Spirit overshadowed you and wrought in your most chaste womb the Incarnation of the Son of God. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." How consistent with the infinite tenderness of God that His Christ, the Immortal Child, should be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the body of a young virgin and that a virgin should bear a Child to redeem the world!

In that moment the mystery of love and mercy, promised to mankind thousands of years earlier, foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints, was accomplished upon earth. In that instant the Word of God became forever united to humanity; the human soul of Jesus Christ, produced from nothing, began to enjoy God and to know all things past, present, and to come. From your pure blood the Holy Spirit formed the pure Body of Jesus. At that moment God began to have an Adorer Who was infinite, and the world a Mediator Who was all-powerful. To the working of this great mystery you also were chosen to co-operate by your free consent.

You are truly the Seat of Wisdom because you were the living Tabernacle of the God of Infinite Wisdom. Not only were you full of grace, but you also bore the Author of grace. You were entirely under the influence of Christ's divinity. In return for the natural strength that you gave Him, He gave you His divine strength. What a divine impression Jesus left upon you, His Mother! You were united with Him as closely as a Mother is united with her child, and your thoughts and desires were those of your Divine Son. Your heart beat in unison with His Heart. I cannot rise to the heights of your holiness because I cannot grasp the intimacy of your union with Christ when you became His Mother.

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, I rejoice with you that you are so privileged, so exalted as to become the worthy Mother of God. We all rejoice because all the graces and spiritual benefits we have received and shall receive, all our future glory comes from this exalted mystery of the Incarnation. God could not have created a more beautiful throne for Himself than you, His Mother! I thank God for the great glory He has bestowed upon you for which all generations shall call you blessed.

I thank you for the motherly compassion with which you came to the aid of a helpless race by consenting to be the Mother of Our Savior.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

Fountain of Our Lady in Nazareth

FOURTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: To Intercede for Sinners

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Four
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

Still the favors and most exalted mysteries of the Most High toward our Queen and Lady in preparing her for approaching dignity of Motherhood continued. The fourth day of this preparation had arrived and at the same hour she was again raised to the abstractive vision of the Divinity. But this vision was accompanied by new effects of exalted enlightenments in this most pure Soul.

The Most High manifested to her in this vision, by most special enlightenments, the new Law of grace which the Redeemer of the world was to establish, the Sacraments contained in it, the end for which He would leave them in His new Church of the Gospel, the gifts and blessings prepared for men, and His desire, that all should be saved and that all should reap the fruit of the Redemption.

And so great was the wisdom, which the most holy Mary drew from these visions, wherein she was taught by the highest Teacher and the Corrector of the wise (Wisdom 7:15), that, if by any means man or angel could describe it, more books would have to be written of this knowledge of Our Lady than all those which have been composed in this world concerning all the arts and sciences, and all the inventions of men.

And no wonder her knowledge of science was greater than that of all other men: for into the heart and mind of our Princess was emptied and exhausted the ocean of the Divinity, which the sins and the evil disposition of the creatures had confined, repressed and circumscribed. It was concealed within its own source until the proper time, which was no other than the hour in which she was chosen as Mother of the Only-begotten of the Father.

Joined with the sweetness of this divine science, our Queen felt a loving, yet piercing sorrow, which this very knowledge continued to renew. She perceived in the Most High the ineffable treasures of grace and blessings, which He had prepared for mortals and she saw the weight of the Divinity as it were inclined toward the desire of seeing all men enjoy them eternally.

At the same time she saw and considered the wicked disposition of the world, and how blindly mortals impeded the flow of these treasures and deprived themselves of participation of the Divinity. From this resulted a new kind of martyrdom full of grief for the perdition of men and of the desire of remedying such lamentable loss. This caused her to offer up the most exalted prayers, petitions, sacrifices, humiliations and heroic acts of love of God and of men, in order that no one, if possible, should henceforth damn himself, and that all should recognize their Creator, and Redeemer, confess Him, adore and love Him. All this took place in this very vision; but as these petitions were of the same kind as those already described, I do not expatiate on them here.

In conjunction therewith the Lord showed her also the works of creation performed on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-17). The heavenly Princess Mary learned how and when the luminaries of heaven were formed in the firmament for dividing day and night and for indicating the seasons, the days and the years; how for this purpose was created the great light of heaven, the sun, presiding as the lord of the day, and joined with it, the moon, the lesser light, which reigns over the darkness of the night.

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"Was it as if God lost something, when He realized His beautiful ideas, and so creatures came in some way to share with Him in the enjoyment of their beauty? Was it as if, when His idea thus escaped Him in act, He was bereaved of His treasures, and was less rich a God than He was before? Surely not; for what was all creation, but the immensity of His communicative love finding undreamed-of outlets into unnumbered worlds? Yet the Divine Persons seem—again it is seeming of which we must speak, we whose tenses and moods are always dishonoring the inexplicable present of eternity—to brood, and wait, and ponder, and feed upon the wisdom and loveliness which lay hid in Their idea of the Word’s created home.

"To create was to unveil the sanctuary. At length, after an eternity, actual creation began. Angels, and matter, created together that spirit might be humble in its precedence, and then men, were as three enchanting preludes to Jesus and Mary, preludes of surpassing sweetness, full of types and symbols and shadows cast forward from what was yet to be in act, though it was prior and supreme in the Divine decrees.

"The Fall has come, and still God waits. The sun has set on the now tenantless Eden, but the decrees make no haste. They quicken not their pace. Four thousand years are truly as nothing, even in the age of the planet; yet they are long when souls are sinning, and hearts are pining, and the footsteps of generations fainting, because of the delay of the Messias. God still lingers. His glory seems to stoop and feed on the desires of the nations and the ages, while the shadows of doubt and the sickness of deferred hope gather round them so disconsolately.

As the Sacred Humanity is the head of creation and the fountain of grace both to Angels and to men, and perhaps to other species of rational creations still unborn, so was it meet, in the Divine dispensations, that the Precious Blood of Jesus should merit all the graces necessary to ornament the Word’s created home. Now that the Incarnate Word was to come as a Redeemer, His Mother must be redeemed by Him with a singular and unshared redemption.

"Beautiful as she was in herself, and incalculable as were her merits, her greatest graces were not merited by herself, but by that Precious Blood which was to be taken from her own. The first white lily that ever grew on that ruddy stem was the Immaculate Conception; and when the time for Mary’s advent came, that was the first grace with which the Divine Persons began Their magnificent work of adorning. It was a new creation, though it was older in the mind of God, as men would speak, than the first-born Angels, or the material planet, which, if we are to credit the tales of science. so many secular epochs and millenniums had at last matured for the Incarnation."

Meditation
Our Lady, in the fourth day of her preparation for the Annunciation, "saw and considered the wicked disposition of the world, and how blindly mortals impeded the flow of these treasures and deprived themselves of participation of the Divinity."  It is a tragedy, that we ourselves often sadly experience, that man can prefer creatures to the Creator, the things of earth to the things of Heaven! If this were not so costly, it would be less tragic, but alas, following such folly, many souls are lost; and those who manage to save their souls by the 'skin of their teeth' find out how costly it is in the fires of Purgatory!

The Venerable Mary of Agreda describes Our Lady's reaction to this: "From this resulted a new kind of martyrdom full of grief for the perdition of men and of the desire of remedying such lamentable loss. This caused her to offer up the most exalted prayers, petitions, sacrifices, humiliations and heroic acts of love of God and of men, in order that no one, if possible, should henceforth damn himself." Do we act likewise, interceding for our fellow sinners? At Fatima, Our Lady asked for just that, saying: "So many souls of sinners are lost because there is nobody to pray and offer sacrifices for them!"  Will we improve our contribution for that purpose this Lent? Let us do so! And then continue to do so after Lent, until the day we die!

Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how great was the honor given to you at the Annunciation! Within your humble home in the little town of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit willed to perform a miracle that was the masterpiece of infinite power—the Incarnation of the Son of God. God sent Gabriel, one of His glorious archangels, to deliver the most important message in the history of mankind, announcing the coming of the Savior of the world and the selection of you to be His Mother. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy that Christ would be born of the family of David.

With heavenly homage the angelic messenger greeted you: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28). Never before did angel greet man with the words, “Hail, full of grace.” In all humility you attributed this holiness to God alone, working wondrously within you. When the Triune God destined and elevated you, a mortal Virgin, to the dignity of Mother of the Redeemer, the Father had to endow you with a fullness of perfection suitable for such a dignity. The Son, the Eternal Wisdom of God, in choosing you for His Mother, bestowed on you a certain fullness of grace, so that as you gave Christ His human nature, Christ, in a certain sense, raised you as close to God as a mere creature can come. And the Holy Spirit, who descended upon you in the Incarnation with all His fullness, must have conferred upon you such treasures of sanctity as would prepare you to receive the Son of God in your most pure womb. You possessed, according to the words of the archangel, such a fullness of grace that you were worthy to become the Mother of God.

“The Lord is with thee.” He was with you in a manner more intimate, more perfect, and more divine than He ever was or will be with any other creature. He was with you not only by His essence, His presence, and His power, as He is with all His creatures. He was with you not only with His actual grace, touching your heart and enlightening your understanding. He was with you not only by His sanctifying grace, making you pleasing in His sight, as He is present with all the just. He was with you not only by a special protection guiding you in His ways and leading you securely to salvation. He was with you, and with you alone, in an unspeakable manner by bodily presence. In you, and of your substance, was this day formed His adorable Body. In you He reposed for nine months, with His whole Divinity and humanity.

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, the angel said to you, “Blessed art thou among women.” Your blessedness was due to your unexcelled sanctity. You would be hailed by all generations as blessed above all other women because you are the Mother of God and at the same time a spotless Virgin. You are blessed because of the fullness of grace you received; blessed because of the greatness of the mercy to be bestowed on you; blessed because of the Majesty of the Person Who was to take flesh of you; blessed because of the glory which would become yours.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

FIFTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: Without Mary You Have No Hope!

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Five
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

The fifth day of the novena, which the most Blessed Trinity celebrated in the temple of most holy Mary—in order that the eternal Word might assume human shape in her—had arrived. Just as in the preceding days she was elevated to an abstractive vision of the Divinity, and, as the veil fell more and more from the secrets of the infinite wisdom, she discovered new mysteries also during this day. For the preparations and enlightenments emitted ever stronger rays of light and divine graces, which flashed into her most holy soul and emptied the treasures of infinity into her faculties, assimilating and transforming the heavenly Lady more and more to a likeness of her God, in order to make her worthy of being His Mother.

It is impossible to describe the hidden secrets, which most holy Mary then saw in the Lord; for she perceived in Him all the creatures of the past, present and the future, and the position of each one in creation, the good and bad actions and the final ending of each one. If she had not been strengthened, she could not have preserved her life under the effects and feelings caused by the knowledge and insight into these hidden sacraments and mysteries. But as His Majesty, in these new miracles and blessings had such high ends in view, He was not sparing, but most generous with the beloved One, whom He had chosen as His Mother. And as our Queen derived this knowledge from the bosom of God itself, she participated also in the fire of His eternal Charity, which inflamed her with the love of God and the neighbor. Therefore, continuing her intercession, she said:

“Lord and eternal God, invisible and immortal, I confess Thy justice, I magnify Thy works, I adore Thy infinite Essence and hold in reverence Thy judgments. My heart melts within me with tenderest affection, when I perceive Thy unlimited bounty toward men and their dark ingratitude and grossness toward Thee. For all of them, O my God, Thou seekest eternal life; but there are few who are thankful for this inestimable benefit, and many who will perish by their malice. If on this account, O my eternal Good, Thou relinquishest Thy undertaking, we mortals are lost; but while Thou, in Thy divine fore-knowledge, perceivest the sins and the malice of men who offend Thee so much, Thou also foreseest Thy Only begotten made man and His works of infinite price and value in Thy sight; and these will counterbalance and exceed the malice of sin beyond all comparison. Through this Godman let Thy equity be conquered and on His account give us Him now! And in order to urge my petitions upon Thee once more in the name of the human race, I unite myself with the spirit of this Word, already made man in Thy mind, and pray for His coming in fact and for the eternal life of men through His hands.”

At this prayer of most pure Mary, the eternal Father (in our way of speaking) represented to Himself His Only begotten as borne in the virginal womb of this great Queen; and He was moved by her humble and loving petitions. His apparent hesitation was merely a device of His tender love in order to enjoy so much the longer the voice of His Beloved. In this contest (just as it once happened to Jacob) Our Lady and Queen was asked, what was her name; and she said: “I am a daughter of Adam, formed by thy hands from the insignificant dust.” And the Most High answered: “Henceforth Thou shalt be called: Chosen for the Mother of the Only begotten.” But the latter part of this name was heard only by the courtiers of heaven, while to her it was as yet hidden until the proper time. She therefore heard only the word “Chosen.”

Thus this strong Woman issued forth from the contest with God more victorious than Jacob; for she came out rich, strong and laden with spoils, and the One that was wounded and weakened (to speak in our way) was God Himself; for He was drawn, by the love of this Lady, to clothe Himself in that sacred bridal chamber of her womb with the weakness of our passible nature. He disguised and enveloped the strength of His Divinity, so as to conquer in allowing Himself to be conquered, and in order to give us life by His death. Let the mortals see and acknowledge, how most holy Mary, next to her most blessed Son, is the cause of their salvation.

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"When Mary’s soul and body sprang from nothingness at the word of God, the Divine Persons encompassed Their chosen creature in that selfsame instant, and the grace of the Immaculate Conception was Their welcome and Their touch. The Daughter, the Mother, the Spouse, received one and the same pledge from All in that single grace, or well-head of graces, as was befitting the grandeur of her Predestination, and her relationship to the Three Divine Persons, and the dignity she was to uphold in the system of creation. In what order her graces came, how they were enchained one with another, how one was the cause of another, and how others were merely out of the gratuitous abundance of God, how they acted on her power of meriting, and how again her merits reacted upon them—all this it is beside our purpose to speak of, even if we could do so fittingly. But the commonest grace of the lowest of us is a world of wonders itself, and of supernatural wonders also.

"How then shall we venture into the labyrinth of Mary’s graces, or hope to come forth from it with any thing more than a perplexed and breathless admiration? It was no less than God Who was adorning her, making her the living image of the August Trinity. It was that she might be the mother of the Word and His created home, that omnipotence was thus adorning her. To the eye of God her beautiful soul and fair body had glided like stars over the abyss of a creatureless eternity, discernible amid the glowing lights and countless scintillations of the Angelic births, across the darkness of chaos and the long epochs of the ripening world, and through the night of four thousand years of wandering and of fall. How must she have come into being, if she was to come worthily of her royal predestination, and of the decrees she was obediently to fulfill, and yet with free obedience!

Out of the abundance of the beautiful gifts with which God endowed her, some colossal graces rose, like lofty mountain tops, far above the level of the exquisite spiritual scenery which surrounded them. The use of reason from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception enabled her to advance in grace and merits beyond all calculation. Her infused science, which, from its being infused, was independent of the use of the senses, enabled her reason to operate, and thus her merits to accumulate, even during sleep. Her complete exemption from the slightest shade of venial sin raised her as nearly out of the imperfections of a creature as was consistent with finite and created holiness. Her confirmation in grace made her a heavenly being while she was yet on earth, and gave her liberty and merit a character so different from ours that in propositions regarding sin and grace we are obliged to make her an exception, together with our Blessed Lord. So gigantic were the graces of that supernatural life, which God made contemporaneous with her natural existence, that in her very first act of love her heroic virtues began far beyond the point where those of the highest Saints have ended."

Meditation
Our Lady, was shown how each and every soul would react towards God and His endeavors to help them save their souls. The fact that God showed all this to Our Lady manifests both His universal love of all men; His desire to save all men of only they would cooperate with Him; and the role Mary would play in all this by her powerful intercession. God lets Himself be 'wounded' be her prayer! Her prayer is irresistible to Him. If Mary prays for us, then we are safe. If Mary does not pray for us, then we have no hope.

St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: “They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins.” And again: “For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: “A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost.”

If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination. St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: “It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and com¬mends himself to her maternal protection.” St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: “He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost.”

Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how pleasing to God was your humility! You were troubled not at the appearance of the angel, but at what he said. Your fear arose entirely from your humility, which was disturbed at the sound of praises far exceeding your own lowly estimate of yourself. Had the angel said you were the most wicked sinner in the world, your wonder would not have been so great as it was at the sound of his praises.

But Gabriel comforted you, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.” As Christ was pleased to be comforted by an angel, so was it necessary that you should be encouraged by one. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found, not taken, grace, as Lucifer tried to take it. You have not lost grace, as Adam lost it, but you have found it because you have desired and sought it. You have found uncreated grace; that is, God Himself became your Son; and with that grace you have found and obtained every created good.

The more your humility was tried, the more lowly you became in your own estimation. Your humility was rewarded with the greatest privilege ever given to a creature. “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High.” By your humility you have found such great grace with God that you were chosen to co-operate with His Divine Son in restoring man to a dignity far superior to that which he had lost by sin. What greater wonder could the world behold than a woman become the Mother of God, and a God clothed in human flesh? Mary, by your humility, you became the Mother of your Creator. The Creator, in His goodness, became the Son of His own creature.

The Holy Ghost would work in you the greatest work of His omnipotence: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” By His almighty power He would form the body of the Savior of the world, and the Divine Son would unite it to Himself forever. How God rewarded your humble and deep faith! “And, therefore, the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God.” Though you did not know the meaning of the archangel’s inspired words, you serenely submitted to the Will of God.

In doing so, you uttered the most gracious act of humility that ever fell from human lips: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” With a “fiat” God created light, heaven, earth; but with your “fiat” God became Man. O powerful answer, which rejoiced Heaven and brought an immense sea of graces and blessings into the world! It was an answer which had scarcely fallen from your lips, before it drew the only-begotten Son of God from the bosom of His Eternal Father, to become Man in your most pure womb!

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, the Divine Motherhood meant for you deepest suffering. To become the Mother of God meant, for you, a knowledge of and a share in the Passion of Christ, that would plunge you into the depths of a sea of lonely desolation. You became a victim and holocaust to the Divine Will, the Queen of Martyrs, the most perfect imitator of the Victim of Calvary. Since suffering is the measure and the very law of love, I cannot imagine the greatness of your love for us, your children. The moment of your exaltation, the highest to which God could raise a creature, finds you sunk in the abyss of your own nothingness. Fully acknowledging your unworthiness to be the Mother of Christ, you accepted the exalted privilege only in obedience to the Divine Will. You called yourself the servant of Him Who for thirty years would be subject to you. How wondrous you are in your humility! Like you, let me realize my own nothingness. I cannot advance in the path of sanctity without humility which is the heart and soul of virtue. If I have humility, God may flood my soul with grace here and exalt it eternally in Heaven.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

SIXTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: Humble Gratitude to God

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Six
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

While the Most High continued the proximate preparation of our heavenly Princess for the reception of the eternal Word in her virginal womb, she, on her part, persevered without intermission in her fervent desires and prayers to hasten His coming into the world. When the night of the sixth of these days had arrived, she was again called and invited in spirit to the abstractive vision of the Divinity. Although this happened in the same manner as at other times, yet it was accompanied by more heavenly effects and by a more profound insight into the attributes of the Most High. She remained nine hours in this trance. This was more excellent than that experienced by any of the saints or the just.

Having seen God in this vision she was immediately shown the works on the sixth day of the creation of the world. She witnessed, as if she herself had been present, how at the command of the Lord the earth brought forth the living beings according to their kinds, as Moses says (Genesis 1:24). Holy Scripture here refers to the terrestrial animals, which being more perfect than the fishes and birds in life and activity, are called by a name signifying the more important part of their nature. She saw and understood all the kinds and species of animals, which were created on this sixth day, and by what name they were called: some, beasts of burden, because they serve and assist man, others, wild beasts, as being more fierce and untamed; others, reptiles, because they do not raise themselves or very little from the earth. She knew and comprehended the qualities of all of them: their fury, their strength, the useful purposes which they serve, and all their distinctions and singularities. Over all these she was invested with dominion and they were commanded to obey her. She could, without opposition on their part, have trodden upon snakes, for all would have meekly borne her heel. Many times did some of these animals show their subjection to her commands.

In this plenitude of knowledge and science, our heavenly Queen understood perfectly the secret ways of God in making all creation serve for the benefit of man, and how much man owes to his Creator on this account. And it was most proper that she should possess this knowledge and understanding, so that with it she might be able to give fitting thanks for these blessings. Neither men nor angels have done so, failing to correspond and falling short of their duty in this regard. All these voids were filled by the Queen of all, and she satisfied for the debt of gratitude, which we could not or would not pay. Through her, divine equity was duly satisfied, considering her as a medium between itself and the creatures. By her innocence and gratitude she became more pleasing to His Majesty than all the rest of the creatures. The mysterious advent of God into the world was thus being prepared: for the last hindrance was removed by the sanctification of her, who was to be His Mother.

After seeing the creation of all the irrational creatures, she became aware, how the most Blessed Trinity, in order to complete and perfect the world, said: “Let us make man to our image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26), and how, by virtue of this divine decree, the first man was formed of the earth as the first parent of all the rest. She had a profound insight into the harmonious composition of the human body and soul and of their faculties, of the creation and infusion of the soul into the body and of its intimate union with the body. Of the structure of the human body and all its parts, she obtained a deep knowledge: she was informed of the number of the bones, veins, arteries, nerves and ligatures; of the concourse of humors to compose the befitting temperaments, the faculties of nutrition, growth and loco¬motion; she learned in what manner the disturbances or changes in this harmony caused the sicknesses, and how these can be cured. All this the most prudent Virgin understood and comprehended without the least error, better than all the wise men of the world and better than even the angels.

The Lord manifested to her also the happy state of original justice, in which He placed the first parents Adam and Eve; she understood their condition, beauty and perfection of innocence and grace, and for how short a time they persevered in it. She perceived how they were tempted and overcome by the astuteness of the serpent (Genesis 2:51), and what were the consequences of their sin; and how great were the fury and hate of the demon against the human race. At the vision of all these things our Queen made great and heroic acts of virtue, highly pleasing to God. She understood that she was a daughter of these first parents and that she descended from a nature so thankless to its Creator. In the remembrance of this she humiliated herself in His divine presence, thereby wounding the heart of God and obliging Him to raise her above all that is created. She took it upon herself to weep for the first sin and for all the rest, that followed from it, as if she herself had been guilty of them all. Hence, even at that time, that first sin might have been called a fortunate fault, which caused tears so precious in the eyes of the Lord, and which earned us such sureties and pledges of our Redemption.

Rendering worthy thanks to the Creator for the magnificent work of the creation of man, she reflected deeply on his disobedience, the seduction and deception of Eve, and she inwardly resolved to yield that perpetual obedience, which these first parents had refused to their Creator.

In the plenitude of this mystery the Most High infused into the heart of our Queen a new abhorrence of the demon; and thus it happened, that she thrust him from his position of superiority and command over the world. She crushed the head of his pride, hanging him on the gallows of the Cross, where he had hoped to destroy and conquer the Godman, but was himself chastised and overcome by it. Toward all this the most holy Mary was instrumental. Just as the envy of the dragon against the Woman, that is this heavenly Lady, commenced in Heaven, when he saw her clothed with the sun (Apocalypse 12:4); so this strife continued until he was deprived of his tyrannous dominion.

The Words Our Lady addressed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda
Wonderful, my daughter, was the gift of humility, which the Most High conferred upon me. And since His Majesty does not reject the prayers of those, that dispose themselves to receive it, I desire that thou imitate me and be my companion in the exercise of this virtue. I had no part in the sin of Adam, for I was exempted from his disobedience; but because I partook of his nature and by it was his daughter, I humiliated myself in my estimation to nothingness. In the light of this example then, how far must those humiliate themselves, who not only have had a part in the first sin, but also have committed other sins without number? The aim and motive of this humiliation moreover, should not be to remove the punishments of those sins, but to make restoration and recompense for the diminution and loss of honor, which was thereby occasioned to the Creator and Lord.

Just as thou wouldst shed tears of humiliation and con¬fusion at some ignominious fault of thy natural brother; so I wish that thou do it for the sins, which the mortals commit against God, sorrowing for them in confusion as if thou wert responsible for them thyself. That is what I did at the thought of the disobedience of Adam and Eve and of all the evils, which ensued therefrom to the human race. And the Most High was pleased with my charitable interest; for most agreeable in His sight are the tears shed for the sins, which are forgotten by those, that have committed them.

At the same time see thou bear ever in mind, that, no matter how great and rare are the favors received from the Most High, thou do not despise the danger of sin, nor despise the careful and humble performance of the ordinary duties of precept and charity. For these do not oblige thee to leave the presence of God: faith teaches thee, and inspiration should govern thee, to bear Him with thee in all occupations and places, leaving thyself and thy inclinations, but fulfilling in all things the will of thy Lord. Do not allow thyself to be led in these sentiments by the trend of thy own inclinations, nor by that which seems to agree with thy own interior liking and taste; for many times the greatest danger is hidden beneath this cloak. Great victories and advances in merit are connected with the true submission of self and subjection of our own judgments to those of others. Thou shouldst never wish to retain for thyself the power to will or not to will: then thou shalt sing of victories and overcome thy enemies.

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"How then shall we venture into the labyrinth of Mary’s graces, or hope to come forth from it with any thing more than a perplexed and breathless admiration? It was no less than God Who was adorning her, making her the living image of the August Trinity. It was that she might be the mother of the Word and His created home, that omnipotence was thus adorning her. To the eye of God her beautiful soul and fair body had glided like stars over the abyss of a creatureless eternity, discernible amid the glowing lights and countless scintillations of the Angelic births, across the darkness of chaos and the long epochs of the ripening world, and through the night of four thousand years of wandering and of fall. How must she have come into being, if she was to come worthily of her royal predestination, and of the decrees she was obediently to fulfill, and yet with free obedience!"

Meditation
We read above that "it was most proper that she should possess this knowledge and understanding, so that with it she might be able to give fitting thanks for these blessings. Neither men nor angels have done so, failing to correspond and falling short of their duty in this regard" How am I in this regard? When I look at all of God's creation that surrounds me, how grateful am I to Him for having made all these things? Am I taking Him and His creation for granted? Most of the world is thankless towards God, or, at best, are merely superficially thankful: meaning they thank with their lips, but not with their heart. We all know the Scriptural phrase: "To who more is given, more is expected!" This applies to gratitude too! We Catholics have received far more than the rest of mankind, and God rightfully expects to receive far more gratitude from us than He does from them.

This ties in with what Our Lady said above of humility. The humble man is more likely to show greater gratitude than the proud man. The flip side of humility is honesty or truth. The humble man truly sees what God has really done for him, and fully appreciates the truth of the words of Jesus: "Without Me you can do nothing!" (John 15:5). He doesn't even seek to experiment if those words are really true or not (unlike the proud man, who seeks to do without Jesus' help until he feels he really needs it). Let us strive to be both more humble and more grateful!

Prayer
MARY, MY MOTHER, the instant that you gave your consent to the archangel, the Holy Spirit overshadowed you and wrought in your most chaste womb the Incarnation of the Son of God. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” How consistent with the infinite tenderness of God that His Christ, the Immortal Child, should be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the body of a young virgin and that a virgin should bear a Child to redeem the world!

In that moment the mystery of love and mercy, promised to mankind thousands of years earlier, foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints, was accomplished upon earth. In that instant the Word of God became forever united to humanity; the human soul of Jesus Christ, produced from nothing, began to enjoy God and to know all things past, present, and to come. From your pure blood the Holy Spirit formed the pure Body of Jesus. At that moment God began to have an Adorer Who was infinite, and the world a Mediator Who was all-powerful. To the working of this great mystery you also were chosen to co-operate by your free consent.

You are truly the Seat of Wisdom because you were the living Tabernacle of the God of Infinite Wisdom. Not only were you full of grace, but you also bore the Author of grace. You were entirely under the influence of Christ’s divinity. In return for the natural strength that you gave Him, He gave you His divine strength. What a divine impression Jesus left upon you, His Mother! You were united with Him as closely as a Mother is united with her child, and your thoughts and desires were those of your Divine Son. Your heart beat in unison with His Heart. I cannot rise to the heights of your holiness because I cannot grasp the intimacy of your union with Christ when you became His Mother.

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, I rejoice with you that you are so privileged, so exalted as to become the worthy Mother of God. We all rejoice because all the graces and spiritual benefits we have received and shall receive, all our future glory comes from this exalted mystery of the Incarnation. God could not have created a more beautiful throne for Himself than you, His Mother! I thank God for the great glory He has bestowed upon you for which all generations shall call you blessed.I thank you for the motherly compassion with which you came to the aid of a helpless race by consenting to be the Mother of Our Savior.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

SEVENTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: We Can Share in Mary's Graces

God prepares Mary for the Annunciation: Day Seven
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

The seventh day of this mysterious preparation for the approaching sacrament arrived, and in the same hour as already mentioned, the heavenly Lady was called and elevated in spirit, but with this difference, that she was bodily raised by her holy angels to the empyrean heaven, while in her stead one of them remained to represent her in corporeal appearance. Placed into this highest Heaven, she saw the Divinity by abstract vision as in other days; but always with new and more penetrating light, piercing to new and more profound mysteries, which God according to His free will can conceal or reveal. Presently she heard a voice proceeding from the royal throne, which said: “Our Spouse and chosen Dove, our gracious Friend, who hast been found pleasing in our eyes and hast been chosen among thousands: We wish to accept thee anew as our Bride, and therefore We wish to adorn and beautify thee in a manner worthy of our design.”

On hearing these words the most Humble among the humble abased and annihilated herself in the presence of the Most High more than can be comprehended by human power. It was a spectacle worthy of new wonder and jubilee for all the angelic spirits to see in this heavenly place, never touched by other feet, an humble Maiden consecrated as their Queen and raised to the closest proximity to God of all the created beings. Mary, perfectly and completely, had corresponded with the blessings and gifts confided to her. Accordingly the three Persons of the Trinity resolved to raise this Creature to the highest position of grace and friendship of God, such as no creature had ever or would ever attain; and then and there They gave to her more than to all the rest of creatures together.

The Words Our Lady addressed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda
"The work-shops and treasure-rooms of the Most High are those of a divine Lord and omnipotent King, and therefore without number or limit are the riches and treasures which they contain for the endowment of His chosen brides. He can enrich innumerable others just as He has enriched my soul, and yet infinitely more will remain. Although He will give to no creature as much as He has conferred upon me, it is not because He is not able or does not wish, but because no one will dispose himself for His grace as I did. But the Almighty is most generous with some souls and enriches them so munificently, because they impede His gifts less, and dispose themselves better than others.

"I desire that thou place no obstacle to the love of thy Lord. Remember that all the just souls receive [graces] from His hands, though each one according to the degree of the friendship and grace, which makes them capable of receiving them. If thou wishest to attain the highest purity of that perfection and become worthy of standing in the presence of thy Lord and Spouse, strive to be robust and strong in love; and thou knowest, that this is augmented in the same degree, as mortification and self-abnegation are practiced. Thou must deny thyself and forget all earthly things; thou must expel all thy leanings toward thyself and toward visible things, in the divine love solely thou must increase and advance. Wash and purify thyself in the blood of thy Redeemer by renewing thy loving sorrow for thy sins. Thereby wilt thou find grace in His eyes and thy beauty will be desired by Him, and all thy adornments will be full of the greatest perfection and purity.

"As thou hast been so highly favored and distinguished by the blessings of the Lord, it is just that thou, more than many generations of men, give thanks and with incessant praises magnify Him for what, He has condescended to do for thee. If this vice of ingratitude is so vile and reprehensible in the creatures, who owe Him little and, in their earthliness and coarseness, forget the benefits of the Lord; greater will thy guilt be in falling short of thy obligations. And do not deceive thyself with the pretext of being humble; for there is a great difference between thankful humility and humble thank-lessness. Remember that the Lord very often shows great favors to the unworthy, in order to manifest His goodness and generosity. On the contrary let no one become inflated, but let everyone acknowledge so much the more his unworthiness, using it as a medicine and treacle against the poison of presumption. But gratitude will agree with this humble opinion of self, since we must acknowledge, that every good gift comes from the Father of lights and cannot ever be merited by creatures (James 1:17). All have their source only in His goodness, binding us and obliging us to grateful recognition."

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"Out of the abundance of the beautiful gifts with which God endowed her, some colossal graces rose, like lofty mountain tops, far above the level of the exquisite spiritual scenery which surrounded them. The use of reason from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception enabled her to advance in grace and merits beyond all calculation. Her infused knowledge, which, from its being infused, was independent of the use of the senses, enabled her reason to operate, and thus her merits to accumulate, even during sleep. Her complete exemption from the slightest shade of venial sin raised her as nearly out of the imperfections of a creature as was consistent with finite and created holiness. Her confirmation in grace made her a heavenly being while she was yet on earth, and gave her liberty and merit a character so different from ours that in propositions regarding sin and grace we are obliged to make her an exception, together with our Blessed Lord. So gigantic were the graces of that supernatural life, which God made contemporaneous with her natural existence, that in her very first act of love her heroic virtues began far beyond the point where those of the highest Saints have ended.

"All this is but a dry theological description of the Word’s created home, as it was when the Divine Persons clothed and adorned it as it rose from nothingness. Yet how surpassingly beautiful is the sanctity which it implies! Fifteen years went on, with those huge colossal graces, full of vitality, uninterruptedly generating new graces, and new correspondences to grace evoking from the abyss of the Word new graces still, and merits multiplying merits, so that if the world were written over with ciphers it would not represent the sum. It seems by this time as if her grace were as nearly infinite as finite thing could be, and her sanctity and purity have become so constrainingly beautiful that their constraints reach even to the Eternal Word Himself, and He yields to the force of their attractions, and anticipates His time, and hastens with inexplicable desire to take up His abode in His created home. This is what theology means when it says that Mary merited the anticipation of the time of the Incarnation."

Meditation
As Our Lady said above: "Although He will give to no creature as much as He has conferred upon me, it is not because He is not able or does not wish, but because no one will dispose himself for His grace as I did. But the Almighty is most generous with some souls and enriches them so munificently, because they impede His gifts less, and dispose themselves better than others." This should remind of the words of Our Lady to St. Catherine Labouré in 1830, when Catherine saw magnificent rays of light shining from the rings on Our Lady's fingers. She asked Our Lady what those rays of light were; Our Lady replied that they were graces that God gives to us. Catherine noticed some rays were dull and asked why. Our Lady said that these were graces God did not give to us. Again, Catherine asked for the reason; to which Our Lady replied that we DO NOT ASK FOR THEM.

God is prepared to give, but we are not prepared to ask! It is as though we want things putting on a plate for us. As Our Lady says above: "Thou must deny thyself and forget all earthly things; thou must expel all thy leanings toward thyself and toward visible things, in the divine love solely thou must increase and advance. Wash and purify thyself in the blood of thy Redeemer by renewing thy loving sorrow for thy sins. Thereby wilt thou find grace in His eyes."

God is prepared to give, even to the unworthy, as Our Lady points out: "Do not deceive thyself with the pretext of being humble; for there is a great difference between thankful humility and humble thanklessness. Remember that the Lord very often shows great favors to the unworthy, in order to manifest His goodness and generosity." So let us weep over our sins, and turn away from a love of ourselves and a love of the world, to an ever increasing love of God; knowing that, even though we may be unworthy, God is still prepared to do much for us, but we must be prepared to ask and labor in order to receive. It will not be handed to us 'on a plate.'

Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how great was the honor given to you at the Annunciation! Within your humble home in the little town of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit willed to perform a miracle that was the masterpiece of infinite power—the Incarnation of the Son of God. God sent Gabriel, one of His glorious archangels, to deliver the most important message in the history of mankind, announcing the coming of the Savior of the world and the selection of you to be His Mother. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy that Christ would be born of the family of David.

With heavenly homage the angelic messenger greeted you: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28). Never before did angel greet man with the words, “Hail, full of grace.” In all humility you attributed this holiness to God alone, working wondrously within you. When the Triune God destined and elevated you, a mortal Virgin, to the dignity of Mother of the Redeemer, the Father had to endow you with a fullness of perfection suitable for such a dignity. The Son, the Eternal Wisdom of God, in choosing you for His Mother, bestowed on you a certain fullness of grace, so that as you gave Christ His human nature, Christ, in a certain sense, raised you as close to God as a mere creature can come. And the Holy Spirit, who descended upon you in the Incarnation with all His fullness, must have conferred upon you such treasures of sanctity as would prepare you to receive the Son of God in your most pure womb. You possessed, according to the words of the archangel, such a fullness of grace that you were worthy to become the Mother of God.

“The Lord is with thee.” He was with you in a manner more intimate, more perfect, and more divine than He ever was or will be with any other creature. He was with you not only by His essence, His presence, and His power, as He is with all His creatures. He was with you not only with His actual grace, touching your heart and enlightening your understanding. He was with you not only by His sanctifying grace, making you pleasing in His sight, as He is present with all the just. He was with you not only by a special protection guiding you in His ways and leading you securely to salvation. He was with you, and with you alone, in an unspeakable manner by bodily presence. In you, and of your substance, was this day formed His adorable Body. In you He reposed for nine months, with His whole Divinity and humanity.

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, the angel said to you, “Blessed art thou among women.” Your blessedness was due to your unexcelled sanctity. You would be hailed by all generations as blessed above all other women because you are the Mother of God and at the same time a spotless Virgin. You are blessed because of the fullness of grace you received; blessed because of the greatness of the mercy to be bestowed on you; blessed because of the Majesty of the Person Who was to take flesh of you; blessed because of the glory which would become yours.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

EIGHTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: Letting God Build the Temple of our Soul

God prepares Mary: Day Eight
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

Mary, had now attained such fullness of grace and beauty, that the heart of God was so wounded by her affections and desires (Canticles 4:9), that He was, so to say, irresistibly drawn to begin His flight from the bosom of the eternal Father to the bridal-chamber of her virginal womb and end the long delay of more than five thousand years. In the heart of most holy Mary burned the flame, which God himself had enkindled, and without intermission she prayed for the salvation of the human race. However, as yet the most humble Lady restrained herself in modesty, knowing that on account of the sin of Adam, the sentence of death and of eternal privation from the vision of God had been promulgated (Genesis 3:19).

A heavenly strife thus arose in the most pure heart of Mary between her love and her humility, and, lost in these sentiments, she repeated many times: “Oh, who shall be able to secure the salvation of my brethren? Oh, who shall be able to draw from the bosom of the eternal Father His Only begotten and make Him a partaker of our mortality?” (Canticles 1:1). But how can we, the children and descendants of the malefactor, who committed the crime, ask for this favor? How can we draw Him toward us, whom our fathers repelled?”

This prayer most holy Mary repeated during the eighth day of her preparation, and at midnight, being wrapped and entranced in the Lord, she heard His Majesty responding to her: “My Spouse and my Chosen one, the common law does not apply to thee (Esther 15:13). Thou art exempt from sin and thou art free from its effects since the moment of thy Conception. When I gave being to thee, I turned away from thee the scepter of my justice and laid upon thy neck that of my great clemency, in order that the general edict of sin might not touch thee. Come to Me. and be not dismayed in the consciousness of thy human nature; I am He, that raises the humble, and fills with riches those that are poor. Thou hast Me for thy Friend and my generous mercies shall be at thy disposal.”

These words our Queen heard intellectually and, as in the preceding night, she presently felt herself raised by the holy angels bodily to Heaven, while in her stead remained one of the angels of her guard. The Most High received His holy and chosen Bride, most holy Mary, into His presence. Although this happened not in an intuitive, but in an abstractive vision of the Divinity, it was accompanied with incomparable favors of light and purification proceeding from the Lord himself, such as were specially reserved for this day.

The Most High added yet other favors, saying to her with extreme condescension : “My chosen Spouse, since Thou hast found grace in my eyes, ask of Me without restraint, what thou desirest, and I assure thee, as the most faithful God and powerful King, that I shall not reject thy petitions nor deny thee what thou askest.” Our great Princess humiliated herself profoundly and relying on the promise and royal word of the Lord, and inspired with highest confidence, she answered saying: “My Lord and highest God, if I have found grace in thy eyes (Genesis 18:3, 27), although I am dust and ashes, I will speak in thy divine presence and pour out to Thee my heart” (Psalm 61:9).

“I do not ask, O Lord, for a part of thy kingdom in my own behalf,” answered most holy Mary, “but I ask for the whole of it for all the race of men, who are my brothers. I beseech Thee, highest and powerful King, that according to thy immense kindness Thou send us thy Only begotten our Redeemer, in order that He may satisfy for the sins of all the world, that thy people may gain the freedom so much desired, and that, through the satisfaction thus rendered to thy justice. Let the day of thy promises dawn upon us, O my God, let thy words be fulfilled, and let the Messias, expected for so many ages, arrive. These are my anxious desires, and for this do I breathe forth my sighs, since Thou showest to me the condescension of thy infinite clemency.”

The highest Lord, who wished to bind Himself by her prayer, disposed and incited the petitions of His beloved Spouse; benignly He inclined toward her and answered her with singular clemency: “Pleasing to my Will are thy requests, and acceptable are thy petitions: it shall be done as thou askest. I desire, my Daughter and Spouse, what thou seekest; and as a pledge of this, I give thee my word and promise thee, that very shortly my Only begotten shall descend to the earth and shall vest Himself and unite Himself with the human nature. Thus thy acceptable wishes shall be executed and fulfilled.”

The Words Our Lady addressed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda
"My dearest daughter, how far removed is worldly wisdom from the admirable operations of the divine power in these sacraments of the Incarnation of the divine Word in my womb! Flesh and blood cannot reach them, and not the angels and seraphim, though they be of the highest; nor can they know mysteries so deeply hidden and so far above the ordinary course of grace. Praise the Lord for them with incessant love and thankfulness. Be thou not any longer slow in understanding the greatness of His divine love and His readiness to benefit His friends and dear ones, whom He desires to elevate from the dust and enrich in diverse manners. God derives just as great pleasure from their deeds, as when a father rejoices in his beloved and well-behaved son, whom he looks upon many times with great affection; or as an artist, when he beholds with pride the perfect works of his hands; or as a king, who inspects the rich city, which he has added to his dominions; or as one, who is pleased with his much beloved friend. There is only this difference: the Most High finds incomparably more delight than all these in the souls, which He has chosen for his blessings; and in proportion as they dispose themselves and advance in virtue, the Lord also multiplies His favors and benefits."

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"St. Denys, when he saw the vision of Mary, said with wonder that he might have mistaken her for God. We may say, in more modern and less simple language, that Mary is like one of those great scientific truths, whose full import we never master except by long meditation, and by studying its bearings on a system, and then at last the fertility and grandeur of the truth seem endless. So it is with the Mother of God. She teaches us God as we never could else have learned Him. She is the hill-top from which we gain distant views into His perfections, and see fair regions in Him, of which we should not else have dreamed. Our thoughts of Him grow worthier by means of her. The amount of human knowledge in the present age is overwhelming: yet, the deepest thinkers deem science to be only in its infancy. Many things indicate this truth. Just as each science is yearly growing, yearly outgrowing the old systems which held it within too narrow limits, so is the science of Mary growing in each loving and studious heart all through life.

"What was it in her which so attracted God? What drew the Word from the Bosom of the Father into her Bosom with such mysterious allurement? It was as if He were following the shadow of His Own beauty. It was because the delights of the Holy Trinity were so faithfully imaged there. All was His. It was to His Own He went. It was His Own which drew Him. He was but falling in love with His Own wisdom, when He so loved her. Her natural life was His Own idea, her beauty a sparkle of His science, her birth an effortless act of His Own almighty will. Her graces were all from Him. She had nothing which she had not received. Like the moon, her loveliness was all from borrowed light. Her grandest realities are but pale reflections of Himself."

Meditation
As we read above, Mary "wounded" the Heart of God by her humility and her love for Him. It says that "In the heart of most holy Mary burned the flame, which God himself had enkindled" and God is willing to enkindle in us the fire of that love too! As Our Lady said: "Be thou not any longer slow in understanding the greatness of His divine love and His readiness to benefit His friends and dear ones, whom He desires to elevate from the dust and enrich."

But like a fire, both knowledge and love must grow from a small spark to flagrant furnace. The tree needs to start as a seed. Our whole life should be devoted, humbly and lovingly, seeking to grow in the knowledge and love of God and Our Lady. And it is through Mary that we learn about God, as Fr. Faber said: "She teaches us God as we never could else have learned Him. She is the hill-top from which we gain distant views into His perfections, and see fair regions in Him, of which we should not else have dreamed. Our thoughts of Him grow worthier by means of her."

Like meat in the oven, if it exposed to heat, it will gradually cook to perfection. Our oven is being surrounded on all sides by things that lead to a greater knowledge of God and Our Lady. Our heat, or our fire, is the love that show to them in our prayers, devotions and other spiritual exercises. In a sense, that fire comes from within, but it is ignited from the outside, like the fire of a gas oven is within, but it needs us to ignite the gas with a match. We ask the Holy Ghost, symbolized by tongues of fire, to come into our hearts and enkindle is us the fire of His love.

Prayer
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, how pleasing to God was your humility! You were troubled not at the appearance of the angel, but at what he said. Your fear arose entirely from your humility, which was disturbed at the sound of praises far exceeding your own lowly estimate of yourself. Had the angel said you were the most wicked sinner in the world, your wonder would not have been so great as it was at the sound of his praises.

But Gabriel comforted you, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.” As Christ was pleased to be comforted by an angel, so was it necessary that you should be encouraged by one. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found, not taken, grace, as Lucifer tried to take it. You have not lost grace, as Adam lost it, but you have found it because you have desired and sought it. You have found uncreated grace; that is, God Himself became your Son; and with that grace you have found and obtained every created good.

The more your humility was tried, the more lowly you became in your own estimation. Your humility was rewarded with the greatest privilege ever given to a creature. “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High.” By your humility you have found such great grace with God that you were chosen to co-operate with His Divine Son in restoring man to a dignity far superior to that which he had lost by sin. What greater wonder could the world behold than a woman become the Mother of God, and a God clothed in human flesh? Mary, by your humility, you became the Mother of your Creator. The Creator, in His goodness, became the Son of His own creature.

The Holy Ghost would work in you the greatest work of His omnipotence: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” By His almighty power He would form the body of the Savior of the world, and the Divine Son would unite it to Himself forever. How God rewarded your humble and deep faith! “And, therefore, the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God.” Though you did not know the meaning of the archangel’s inspired words, you serenely submitted to the Will of God.

In doing so, you uttered the most gracious act of humility that ever fell from human lips: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” With a “fiat” God created light, heaven, earth; but with your “fiat” God became Man. O powerful answer, which rejoiced Heaven and brought an immense sea of graces and blessings into the world! It was an answer which had scarcely fallen from your lips, before it drew the only-begotten Son of God from the bosom of His Eternal Father, to become Man in your most pure womb!

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, the Divine Motherhood meant for you deepest suffering. To become the Mother of God meant, for you, a knowledge of and a share in the Passion of Christ, that would plunge you into the depths of a sea of lonely desolation. You became a victim and holocaust to the Divine Will, the Queen of Martyrs, the most perfect imitator of the Victim of Calvary. Since suffering is the measure and the very law of love, I cannot imagine the greatness of your love for us, your children. The moment of your exaltation, the highest to which God could raise a creature, finds you sunk in the abyss of your own nothingness. Fully acknowledging your unworthiness to be the Mother of Christ, you accepted the exalted privilege only in obedience to the Divine Will. You called yourself the servant of Him Who for thirty years would be subject to you. How wondrous you are in your humility! Like you, let me realize my own nothingness. I cannot advance in the path of sanctity without humility which is the heart and soul of virtue. If I have humility, God may flood my soul with grace here and exalt it eternally in Heaven.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.

NINTH DAY OF THE NOVENA (new meditations posted each day)
Theme: The Triumph of Humility

God prepares Mary: Day Nine
Taken from The City of God by the Venerable Mary of Agreda, Book 2: The Incarnation

On the last day of the novena of immediate preparation of his coming, the Most High resolved to renew His wonders and multiply His tokens of love, repeating the favors and benefits which up to this day He had conferred upon the Princess Mary. But the Almighty chose to work in such a way, that in drawing forth from His infinite treasures His gifts of old, He always added thereto such as were new. All of these different kinds of wonders were appropriate to the end He had in view: lowering His Divinity to the human nature and raising a woman to the dignity of Mother of God.

The day had then arrived, in which most holy Mary was to reach the last stage and be placed so close to God. as to become His Mother. In that night, at the hour of greatest silence, she was again called by the same Lord, as it had happened on the other days. The humble Queen responded: “My heart is prepared (Psalm 107:2), my Lord and exalted Sovereign: let Thy divine pleasure be fulfilled in me.” Immediately she was, as on the preceding day, borne body and soul by the hands of her angels to the empyrean heavens and placed in the presence of the royal throne of the Most High; and His divine Majesty raised her up and seated her at His side, assigning to her the position and throne, which she was to occupy forever in His presence.

From this position she saw the Divinity by an abstractive vision, as at other times, and His Majesty, hiding from her the dignity of Mother of God, manifested to her unusual and high mysteries. Again she saw in the Divinity all things created and many other possible and future ones. The corporeal things God manifested and made known to her by corporeal and sensible images, as if they had been presented to her ocular vision. The fabric of the universe, which before this she had known in parts, now appeared to her in its entirety, distinctly pictured as upon canvas, with all the creatures contained therein. She saw the harmony, order, connection and dependence of each toward each, and of the divine will, which had created them, governs and preserves them, each in its place and mode of existence. Again she saw all the heavens and the stars, the elements, and those that lived in them, purgatory, limbo, hell and all the occupants of these caverns. Just as the position of the Queen of creation was above all creatures and inferior only to that of God, so also the knowledge given to her was superior to that of all created things being inferior only to that of the Lord.

His Majesty spoke to her and said: “My chosen Dove, all the visible creatures, which thou beholdest, I have created and preserved in all their variety and beauty by My Providence, solely for the love of men. And from all the souls, which I have until now created and which are predestined to be created unto the end, I shall choose and select the congregation of the faithful, who shall be set apart and washed in the Blood of the Lamb in the Redemption of the world. They shall be the special fruit of his Redemption, and they shall enjoy its blessings through the new law of grace and the sacraments to be instituted by the Redeemer; and afterwards those that persevere shall partake of My eternal glory and friendship. For these chosen ones I have primarily created these wonderful works! and if all of them would strive to serve Me, adore and acknowledge My Holy Name; as far as I am concerned, I would for each and every one of them create these great treasures and assign all over to them as their possession.

“And if I had created only one being capable of My grace and glory, I would have made it the lord and master of all creation; for this would be a much smaller favor than to make it partaker of My friendship and of eternal happiness. Thou, my Spouse, shalt be My Chosen One and thou hast found grace in My sight; and therefore I make thee Mistress of all these goods and I give thee dominion and possession of them all, so that, if thou art a faithful spouse, according to My wishes, thou mayest distribute and dispose of them according as thou desirest and according as thy intercession shall direct; for this is the purpose, for which they are given into thy possession.”

Therewith the most blessed Trinity placed a crown on the head of our Princess Mary, consecrating her as the sovereign Queen of all creation. Upon it was spread and enameled the inscription: “Mother of God”; but its meaning was not known to her at this time. The heavenly spirits, however, knew it and they were filled with admiration at the magnificence of the Lord toward this Maiden, most fortunate and blessed among womankind. They revered and honored her as their legitimate Queen and as Sovereign of all creation.

In order to put the last touch to this prodigious work of preparing the most holy Mary, the Lord extended His powerful arm and expressly renewed the spirit and the faculties of the great Lady, giving her new inclinations, habits and qualities, the greatness and excellence of which are inexpressible in terrestrial terms. It was the finishing act and the final retouching of the living image of God, in order to form, in it and of it, the very shape, into which the eternal Word, the essential image of the Eternal Father (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the figure of His substance (Hebrews 1:3), was to be cast. Thus the whole temple of most holy Mary, more so than that of Solomon, was covered with the purest gold of the Divinity inside and out, (3 Kings 6:30), so that nowhere could be seen in her any grossness of an earthly daughter of Adam. Her entire being was made to shine forth the Divinity; for since the divine Word was to issue from the bosom of the Eternal Father to descend to that of Mary, He provided for the greatest possible similarity between the Mother and the Father.

The Words Our Lady addressed to the Venerable Mary of Agreda
"My daughter, the soul that has only a selfish and servile love is not a worthy spouse of the Most High, for she must not love or fear like a slave, nor is she supposed to serve for her daily wages. Yet although her heart must be a filial and generous love on account of the excellence and immense goodness of her Spouse, she must nevertheless also feel herself much bounden to Him, when she considers how rich and generous He is; how, on account of His love for souls, He has created such a variety of visible goods in order that they might serve those who serve Him; and especially, when she considers how many hidden treasures He has in readiness in the abundance of his sweetness (Psalm 30:20) for those that fear Him as His true children. I wish that thou feel deeply obliged to thy Lord and Father, thy Spouse and Friend, at the thought of the riches given to those souls, who become His dearest children. For, as a powerful Father, He holds in readiness these great and manifold gifts for His children, and if necessary, all of His gifts for each one of them in particular. In the midst of such motives and incentives of love the disaffection of men is inexcusable, and at the sight of so many blessings, given without measure, their ingratitude is unpardonable.."

Fr. Faber on the Annunciation
Fr. Frederick Faber, in his book Bethlehem, writes the following words about the Annunciation and the Incarnation:

"The Eternal Word is about to assume His created nature. All things are subordinate to this. The magnificence of Mary is but His road, His instrument, His means. Her magnificence is simply in her ministering. The day, the hour, the place, the messenger, all come at last; for His beautiful created Home is ready for Him, shining with the greatness of its graces, fragrant with the perfume of its holiness. The day has come. Why has it been so long delayed? This is a mystery which does not concern us. Why is it that preparation always forms so much greater a part of the Creator’s works than it does of the creature’s? Is it wholly for the creature’s sake, or is it indicative of some perfection in the Creator?

Who can tell? But the day came at last, the twenty-fifth of March, ever memorable among men as the date of the Incarnation. There was doubtless some deep and beautiful reason why it was not on the twenty-fourth or on the twenty-sixth, and why it should be on the anniversary of Adam’s fall, and hereafter of the Crucifixion,---there was doubtless some deep reason, because God has no surface; all things are deep which are in Him.

"But of the chosen day the first moment was chosen also. The stars had scarcely marked the midnight in the sky, when the decree accomplished itself. Perhaps the greatest silence of created things, the hush of the nocturnal earth, was most suited to the Creator’s coming, just as it was with Adam in the old Asiatic Paradise. Goodness, also, like evil, though for opposite reasons, affects darkness and obscurity. God seems marvelously to shun witnesses. The Resurrection manifests this to us, that unwitnessed mystery, the witnessing of which was nevertheless to be a main function of the college of Apostles. Yet they even were only allowed to bear witness, not to its taking place, but to its having undoubtedly taken place. So it is in science, in all questions of life, in the creation of species, in God’s viewless omnipresence, in the operation of His supernatural Sacraments, in the actual communications of grace, in all positive contacts with Him, our research is baffled on the very threshold of discovery.

"We just reach the point where we should see God the next moment; and without any visible obstacles, without walls or rocks or any palpable fences, we are mysteriously stayed. We can advance no further. We seem to hear the sound of God working, almost to feel His breath; but He will not be witnessed. He remains invisible. As it is in His lesser works, so was it in this His greatest. He came in the dark night, when men were unsuspecting: yet He did not take them by surprise; for, when the morning broke, He did not even tell them that He had come. Do we not know ourselves that, although we are God’s creatures, and creation is full to overflowing of Him, and is meant to raise us to Him, we nevertheless feel we are most with God when least occupied with His outward creation, and draw nearest to Him in proportion as we draw back furthest from creatures? So, on His side, He seems to keep aloof, even when He is coming in closest contact with us. He shrinks from view, Whose blaze we could not bear.

"The place, where the Word’s assumption of His created nature was to be effected, was the inner room, or woman’s apartment, of the Holy House of Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph dwelt. It was an obscure dwelling of humble poverty in a rustic and sequestered village of a small land, whose days of historic glory had passed away, and whose destiny would seem to be exhausted. Even in this land Nazareth was almost a byword of contempt. Filled with pastoral green hills which shut it up within itself, its men were known beyond their own hills only for a coarse and fierce rusticity, with perhaps a reputation for something worse. The Eternal God was about to become a Nazarene. He chose that ill-famed, inglorious Nazareth for the scene of His great mystery. It was His choice; and to us, today, Nazareth, and its Holy House, are consecrated places."

Meditation
As we read above, Our Lady said that " the soul that has only a selfish and servile love is not a worthy spouse of the Most High." Our Lady did was not made to be the Mother of God for purely selfish reasons, nor did she accept the honor for selfish reasons; she became the Mother of God because she was so humble and self-effacing, and she became the Mother of God for the salvation of souls. As there are a blend of positive and negatives throughout life and creation, so too there has to be a positive and negative in the Incarnation. God is great, so Mary has to be humble. God can do anything and everything without Mary; Mary cannot do anything without God. God gives, Mary takes. God is the hand, Mary is the glove. We have to remember to approach God in the same way: with humility acknowledging all that He has done for us and all those around us—without Whom we are nothing and we can do nothing. Then He will do everything that needs to be done within us, to build and decorate the temple that He has made for Himself, the temple of our soul.

Prayer
MARY, MY MOTHER, the instant that you gave your consent to the archangel, the Holy Spirit overshadowed you and wrought in your most chaste womb the Incarnation of the Son of God. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." How consistent with the infinite tenderness of God that His Christ, the Immortal Child, should be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the body of a young virgin and that a virgin should bear a Child to redeem the world!

In that moment the mystery of love and mercy, promised to mankind thousands of years earlier, foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints, was accomplished upon earth. In that instant the Word of God became forever united to humanity; the human soul of Jesus Christ, produced from nothing, began to enjoy God and to know all things past, present, and to come. From your pure blood the Holy Spirit formed the pure Body of Jesus. At that moment God began to have an Adorer Who was infinite, and the world a Mediator Who was all-powerful. To the working of this great mystery you also were chosen to co-operate by your free consent.

You are truly the Seat of Wisdom because you were the living Tabernacle of the God of Infinite Wisdom. Not only were you full of grace, but you also bore the Author of grace. You were entirely under the influence of Christ's divinity. In return for the natural strength that you gave Him, He gave you His divine strength. What a divine impression Jesus left upon you, His Mother! You were united with Him as closely as a Mother is united with her child, and your thoughts and desires were those of your Divine Son. Your heart beat in unison with His Heart. I cannot rise to the heights of your holiness because I cannot grasp the intimacy of your union with Christ when you became His Mother.

[Mention Intention]

MARY, MY MOTHER, I rejoice with you that you are so privileged, so exalted as to become the worthy Mother of God. We all rejoice because all the graces and spiritual benefits we have received and shall receive, all our future glory comes from this exalted mystery of the Incarnation. God could not have created a more beautiful throne for Himself than you, His Mother! I thank God for the great glory He has bestowed upon you for which all generations shall call you blessed.I thank you for the motherly compassion with which you came to the aid of a helpless race by consenting to be the Mother of Our Savior.

Pray:
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in Thy servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communion of Thy mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.
Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

Final Invocation:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.