Prayer of Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary
(by Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Feast day is June 9th)

O pure and immaculate and likewise blessed Virgin, who art the sinless Mother of thy Son, the mighty Lord of the universe, thou who art inviolate and altogether holy, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, we sing thy praises. We bless thee, as full of every grace, thou who didst bear the God-Man: we all bow low before thee; we invoke thee and implore thine aid.

Rescue us, O holy and inviolate Virgin, from every necessity that presses upon us and from all the temptations of the devil. Be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment; deliver us from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness; make us worthy of the glory of thy Son, O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother. Thou indeed art our only hope, most sure and sacred in God’s sight, to whom be honor and glory, majesty and dominion forever and ever world without end. Amen.

The post St. Ephrem loved Our Lady first appeared on AirMaria.com.

O Immaculate and all-pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the Universe, our own good Lady, you surpass all the saints; you are the only hope of the patriarchs, the joy of the saints. Through you we have been reconciled with our God. You are the only advocate of sinners, the safe port of the shipwrecked. You are the consolation of the world, the ransom of captives, the joy of the sick, the comfort of the afflicted, the refuge and salvation of the whole world.

O great Princess, Mother of God, cover us with your wings of mercy and have pity on us. No other hope is given us but you, O most pure Virgin. We have given ourselves to you, and have consecrated ourselves to your service. We are your servants. Do not then, permit Lucifer to drag us into hell.

O Immaculate Virgin, we are under your protection, and therefore we have recourse to you. We beseech you to prevent your beloved Son from being angry at our sins and abandoning us to the power of the devil.

O you who are full of grace, enlighten my understanding, loosen my tongue that it may sing your praises, and especially the angelic salutation, which is so worthy of you. I salute you, O peace and joy, O salvation and consolation of the world. I salute you, O greatest of miracles, O paradise of delights, O safe haven for those in danger, fountain of graces, mediatrix between God and men. 

+ St. Ephrem the Syrian

The post A Prayer to the Mother of God first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Fr. Ignatius on how we should let the Word of God dwell in us abundantly. We should do this by reading, praying, singing and living the Gospels. Father points to St. Ephrem whose feast it is today as an example.

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Ephrem – Opt Mem
Readings: Friday 9th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: tob 11:5-15
Resp: psa 146:2, 7, 8-9, 9-10 0
Gsp: mar 12:35-37

The post Jun 09 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: Let the Word Dwell in You Abundantly first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria Meditations

Death trampled our Lord underfoot, but He in his turn treated death as a highroad for His own feet. He submitted to it, enduring it willingly, because by this means He would be able to destroy death in spite of itself. Death had its own way when our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying His cross; but when by a loud cry from that cross He summoned the dead from the underworld, death was powerless to prevent it.

Death slew Him by means of the body which He had assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which He conquered death. Concealed beneath the cloak of His manhood, His godhead engaged death in combat; but in slaying our Lord, death itself was slain. It was able to kill natural human life, but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man.

Death could not devour our Lord unless He possessed a body, neither could hell swallow him up unless He bore our flesh; and so He came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld. This chariot was the body which He received from the Virgin; in it He invaded death’s fortress, broke open its strong-room and scattered all its treasure.

At length He came upon Eve, the mother of all the living. She was that vineyard whose enclosure her own hands had enabled death to violate, so that she could taste its fruit; thus the mother of all the living became the source of death for every living creature. But in her stead Mary grew up, a new vine in place of the old. Christ, the new life, dwelt within her. When death, with its customary impudence, came foraging for her mortal fruit, it encountered its own destruction in the hidden life that fruit contained. All unsuspecting, it swallowed Him up, and in so doing released life itself and set free a multitude of men.

He who was also the carpenter’s glorious son set up His cross above death’s all-consuming jaws, and led the human race into the dwelling place of life. Since a tree had brought about the downfall of mankind, it was upon a tree that mankind crossed over to the realm of life. Bitter was the branch that had once been grafted upon that ancient tree, but sweet the young shoot that has now been grafted in, the shoot in which we are meant to recognize the Lord whom no creature can resist.

We give glory to you, Lord, who raised up Your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. We give glory to You who put on the body of a single mortal man and made it the source of life for every other mortal man. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed Your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain, but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.

Come then, my brothers and sisters, let us offer our Lord the great and all-embracing sacrifice of our love, pouring out our treasury of hymns and prayers before Him who offered His cross in sacrifice to God for the enrichment of us all.

From a sermon by Saint Ephrem, deacon

The post The cross of Christ gives Life to the Human Race first appeared on AirMaria.com.