We begin today with a prose in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and is found in all Roman-French missals:
God, the lover of man, sends to the Virgin no less an angel than him who is called God's strength, the Archangel Gabriel.
May this strong messenger be speedily at his work; may he stay the rights and laws of nature in the Virgin's delivery.
May the King of glory, when born, triumph over nature; may he reign and command; may he take away from the midst of men all leaven and rust.
May he humble proud heads; may this God, mighty in war, trample in his power on the necks of the haughty.
May he cast forth the prince of this world; and make his Mother share with him the empire which his Father has given him.
Go forth, messenger of God, announce these gifts; lift up, by the virtue of thy annunciation, the veil of the ancient Scripture.
Approach, tell thy announcement: say, when thou art in her presence: 'Hail!' Say: 'O full of grace!' Say: 'The Lord is with thee!' and then: 'Fear not!'
Receive, O Virgin, the divine deposit; by him fulfill thy chaste purpose, and keep thy vow.
The Maid hears and accepts the announcement; she believes and conceives, and brings forth a Son, but he is the admirable,
The counsellor of mankind, God and Man, Father of the world to come, the Prince of peace.
May his firmness render us firm, lest human frailty should make us stumble into the abyss.
But may the Giver of pardon, granting us pardon and grace, obtained by the Mother of grace, dwell within us.
May he that grants us pardon of our sins, wipe away all our guilt, and give us the country in the starry heaven. Amen.
Our prayer which comes before Holy Communion is next, and comes fr St. Augustine:
O God, to whom belong all things, in whom are all things, I beseech thee, spare my soul, spare my evil deeds, spare my iniquities. Visit me in my sickness and cure my trouble. Give me a heart that will love thee, intelligence with which to know thee, ears to hear thy voice, eyes of the soul to see thee. Give me a spark of thy wisdom to show me the way of justice and to teach me to avoid the wiles of the enemy.
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