I wish everyone a blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and a great New Year! Tomorrow I will write a little more about one of my new year’s resolutions. Below is a nice prayer that honors the theotokos:
Rejoice Mary, Mother of God,
Virgin, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb,
for thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.
Meet it is in truth, to glorify thee,
O Birth-giver of God,
ever blessed, and all undefiled,
the Mother of our God.
More honorable than the Cherubim,
and beyond compare
more glorious than the Seraphim,
thou who without stain didst bear God the Word,
true Birth-giver of God, we magnify thee.
Image of the theotokos from anastasisicons.com
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January 3, 2009 at 12:24 am |
A rhymed and slightly abbrreviated form of this Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic prayer in honor of the Mother of God is the second verse of the hymn “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones”, so popular among Lutherans, Anglicans, and Methodists. It runs:
O higher than the cherubim! More glorious than the seraphiim!
Lead their praises! Alleluia!
O Bearer of the Eternal Word, Most Gracious, magnify the Lord!
Alleluia!
I always found it amusing to hear this hymn sung by Protestants who, unknowingly, were singing the praises (and quite loudly) to a Woman they normally did their best to ignore (and some even to degrade).
January 6, 2009 at 10:42 am |
Hi,
I have grown up Methodist (among other Protestant based faith groups) and I am converting, soon my journey to become Catholic will be complete. Yay!
I will say though, in response to your statement , in all the churches I have ever attended never never never have I witnessed anyone who ignored or degraded Mary. Unfortunately, the only misunderstanding I had for many years was that Catholics raised her up higher than Jesus or God. This sadly, came from my Catholic friend who was raised Catholic but left the Church as an adult. I don’t know about Lutheran or Anglicans, but in all my experience I did not witness (Methodist or Christian Churches.)with that view about Mary. They don’t truly recgonize nor honor Mary as she should be. They don’t agknowledge the immaculate conception or perpetual virginity, that is true. This may be what your referring to as degrading.
:)
January 7, 2009 at 4:51 pm |
I’m glad that was your experience. However, I HAVE heard actual degrading remarks from otherwise quite devout non-Catholics. I had a low-church Episcopalian roommate in college who took delight in calling Mary names “because Jesus is the only important one”, he said.
I also have experienced VERY degrading remarks about Mary in various religious chatrooms from other Christians (not Catholics). It’s sad…but it does happen.
I also know that MOST do not share such extreme views.
January 7, 2009 at 7:18 pm |
How very sad.
I wish that Mary would be elevated in the protestant groups of the place she deserves!