Mary and the Annunciation of the Lord

Following on from last Saturday's post that referred to the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, herewith some of the texts of the second of the Masses allocated to the Advent season. The Mass is entitled "Mary and the Annunciation of the Lord".

The Opening Prayer of this Mass is:

O God,
you chose that at the message of an angel
your Word should take flesh
in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Grant that we who believe that she is the Mother of God
may receive the help of her prayers.

I provide below the translation of the Preface - I do not have access to the original Latin, so the precise nuances of what is translated by "humankind" and "human" in the first sentence may (or may not) have been lost in the translation.

He came to save humankind by becoming human himself.
The Virgin Mary, receiving the angel's message in faith,
conceived by the power of the Spirit
and bore your Son in purest love.
In Christ, the eternal truth,
your promise to Israel came true.
In Christ, the hope of all peoples,
our hope was realized beyond all expectation.

As I suggested last week, the rubrical legitimacy of celebrating these Masses in parishes during Advent is a bit of a moot point. However, if your parish is one where Saturday Masses of Our Lady are regularly celebrated, I believe the situation does become analagous to that which would exist at a Marian shrine - there is a reasonable pastoral expectation of celebration of a Mass of Our Lady.

Today, of course, there is also the possibility of celebrating the memorial of Our Lady of Guadaloupe. In the Americas, this will of course take precedence.