Here we go. The countdown begins. Our minds are going to try to be fresh, welcoming Christ into our lives again. We will have the prophets from Isaias to John announcing the coming. Today, we start with a hymn, which was composed by St. Ambrose, and is found in the Ambrosian breviary:
It is a mystery of the Church, it is a hymn that we sing to Christ, the Word of the Father, become the Son of a Virgin.
Among women, thou alone, O Mary! wast chosen in this world, and wast made worthy to carry in thy womb him who is thy Lord.
This is a great mystery, that is given to Mary: that she should see the God, who created all things, become her own Child!
How truly art thou full of grace, ever glorious Virgin! for of thee is born the Christ, by whom all things were made.
Come then, ye people, let us pray to the Virgin Mother of God, that she would obtain for us peace and indulgent mercy.
Glory be to thee, O Lord, who wast born of the Virgin! and to the Father and the Holy Ghost, for everlasting ages.
Amen.
And now, a prayer for humility, taken from the 12th century, and written by St. Aelred of Rievaulx:
See me, sweet Lord, see me. In thy loving kindness, most merciful, is my hope, for thou seest me as a faithful physician would, anxious to heal and correct only as a truly kind Master would. This, then, I ask from thee, the very fount of kindness, trusting simply in thy powerful mercy and in thy merciful power. I ask thee to forgive my sins, to rouse me from my half-heartedness, forgetting my ingratitude and remembering only thy goodness. There are, too, those vices and evil passions which even yet war in me, whether due to long-standing evil habits, or by my carelessness daily repeated, or to the deep-seated weakness of my frail nature, or even to the scarce-recognized temptings of the evil spirits. Against all these foes let thy gentle grace give me strength and courage.
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