Lord God,
you made Saint Albert great by his gift for reconciling human wisdom with divine faith. Help us so to follow his teaching that every advance in science may lead us to a deeper knowledge and love of you.
St Albert gains the rank in the universal calendar of an optional memorial, which allowed us at Mass this morning (not in my home parish - where there is no Saturday morning Mass) to have a Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin. The priest chose the Mass of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love, from the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The texts of this Mass celebrate the spiritual beauty of the Blessed Virgin - it must be my favourite Mass. This is the preface of this Mass:
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks
and, as we celebrate the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to proclaim with fitting praise the greatness of your name.
Beauty was hers at her conception:
free from all stain of sin, she is resplendent in the glory of grace.
Beauty was hers in her virginal motherhood:
she brought forth her Son, the radiance of your glory,
as the Saviour and brother of us all.
Beauty was hers in the passion of her Son:
marked by his blood,
in her meekness she shared the suffering
of the Lamb of God, her Son, silent before his executioners,
and won for herself a new title of motherhood.
Beauty was hers in the resurrection of Christ:
she reigns with him in glory,
the sharer now in his triumph.
Through him the angels of heaven
offer their prayer of adoration
as they rejoice in your presence for ever.
May our voices be one with theirs
in their triumphant hymn of praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment