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| Michelangelo Pieta |
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| Leonardo da Vinci The Annunciation |
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| Fra Angelico The Annunciation |
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| Raphael Transfiguration |
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| "Our prayer and God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while one ascends, the other descends." Mark Hopkins |
| "Children are the hands by which we take hold of Heaven." Henry Ward Beecher |
| "O passing Angel, speed me with a song, a melody of Heaven to reach my heart and rouse me to the race and make me strong." Christina Rossetti |
| "Everything that seems empty is full of the Angels of God." Saint Hillary |
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| Jesus, at the Annunciation God proposes the mystery of Your Incarnation which will be fulfilled in the Blessed Virgin when she shall have given her free consent. Through the Angel Gabriel You invite her to become Your Mother. It seems as though You await the response of the humanity to which You wish to unite Yourself. Full of faith, Mary gives her reply: "I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say." At this moment You, the Divine Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, take flesh of the Virgin Mary and become Man, for the Angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy offspring to be born will be called Son of God." This is the greatest event in the history of the world, for the salvation of human beings depends upon it. I thank You for having loved me so much as to become Man to save my soul. I thank You for having chosen the Virgin Mary as Your Mother. This mystery has earned for her the most glorious of her titles, that of Mother of God, which makes her all-powerful with You, her Divine Son. Through Your Mother's intercession grant me the grace to save my soul. |
| Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. |
| Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of they womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving. O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.Amen. |