May I ask what source did you use for the basis of the verses?
Anna, this is a stunning text. I was particularly arrested by verse 5, although I quite love verse 3 as well. Really drives home Her perpetual virginity quite well.
Gorgeous!
This is certainly just a matter of stylistic preference but I wonder if your second line could be instead: "Israel's Rose in fullest bloom" - which would keep the accented syllable "full" on beat 1.
Not sure why I don't like this but "Manifesting loving might" seemed a little awkward.
"And twelve stars" - how about "twelve bright stars"?
How horribly inadequate is the answer, "an RCIA video"...


At the current rate, there will be a new CMAA Hymnal out in about three months.
Your hymnody (and that of NIhilNominus) is superb. Both should find a prominent place in Catholic hymnals. Have you considered sending your work to any of them?

6. Blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
Theotokos, grant this grace:
THE SECOND APPARITION
Mary gave her this mission in a vision during evening meditation on November 27, 1830. She saw Mary standing on what seemed to be a globe and holding a golden globe in her hands as if offering it to heaven. “The ball which you see represents the whole world, especially France, and each person in particular.”
The times were difficult in France, especially for the poor. France was first to experience many of those troubles which ultimately reached other parts of the world. Streaming from rings on Mary’s fingers as she held the globe were many rays of light. “These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask.”
Mary is the dispenser of all graces.
"Mary, spouse of the Holy Spirit" is a title used in Christian devotion, especially Catholic tradition, to describe Mary's unique, intimate, and miraculous relationship with the Holy Spirit, stemming from her virginal conception of Jesus, symbolizing her perfect openness to God's will, not a literal marriage but a spiritual espousal, akin to how religious sisters call Jesus their spouse. It highlights the Spirit's creative role in her motherhood, her Immaculate Conception, and her perpetual virginity, making her a model for the Church's receptivity to God's Spirit.
Yes, Mary is deeply synonymous with the Catholic Church, seen as the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, a supreme model of faith, and a powerful intercessor, with countless churches and devotions centered on her, reflecting her essential, inseparable role alongside Christ in salvation history and the Church's spiritual life. While not divine herself, her "yes" to God made the Incarnation possible, and her spiritual motherhood extends to all believers, making her a unique figure of veneration and emulation.
Key Reasons for Her Connection to the Church:
Mother of Christ: She bore Jesus, the Son of God, making her the Mother of God (Theotokos).
Mother of the Church: As the Mother of Christ, she is also the Mother of His Mystical Body, the Church, a title formally declared by Pope Paul VI.
Theotokos (God-Bearer): Her role in bringing Christ into the world makes her central to Christian theology and worship.
Model of Faith: Mary is the ultimate example of obedience, love, and submission to God's will, inspiring believers to emulate her.
Spiritual Motherhood: Her spiritual motherhood extends to all humanity, as she co-operates with love in forming believers.
Central in Scripture & Tradition: Her presence at pivotal moments like the Annunciation, the Wedding at Cana, and Pentecost solidifies her importance.
How This is Seen in Practice:
Veneration: Catholics honor Mary with numerous titles (Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of...) and feast days.
Churches: Thousands of churches worldwide are dedicated to her.
Mariology: The study of Mary (Mariology) is a significant part of Catholic theology, alongside Petrine doctrine (related to St. Peter).
In essence, Mary is not just a historical figure but a living, vital part of the Church's identity and spiritual life, symbolizing its own maternal role in bringing Christ to the world.
25. God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal hands. Such indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that we should have all things through Mary, so that, making herself poor and lowly,, and hiding herself in the depths of nothingness during her whole life, she might be enriched, exalted and honoured by almighty God. Such are the views of the Church and the early Fathers.
26. Were I speaking to the so-called intellectuals of today, I would prove at great length by quoting Latin texts taken from Scripture and the Fathers of the Church all that I am now stating so simply. I could also instance solid proofs which can be read in full in Fr. Poiré’s book "The Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin". But I am speaking mainly for the poor and simple who have more good will and faith than the common run of scholars. As they believe more simply and more meritoriously, let me merely state the truth to them quite plainly without bothering to quote Latin passages which they would not understand. Nevertheless, I shall quote some texts as they occur to my mind as I go along.
27. Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still greater perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord remains in heaven just as much the Son of Mary as he was on earth. Consequently he has retained the submissiveness and obedience of the most perfect of all children towards the best of all mothers. We must take care, however, not to consider this dependence as an abasement or imperfection in Jesus Christ. For Mary, infinitely inferior to her Son, who is God, does not command him in the same way as an earthly mother would command her child who is beneath her. Since she is completely transformed in God by that grace and glory which transforms all the saints in him, she does not ask or wish or do anything which is contrary to the eternal and changeless will of God. When therefore we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine, Saint Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven and on earth, even God himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that the authority which God was pleased to give her is so great that she seems to have the same power as God. Her prayers and requests are so powerful with him that he accepts them as commands in the sense that he never resists his dear mother's prayer because it is always humble and conformed to his will.
well, you are limiting your assertion only from the perspective of earthly matter and chronological time. That is a very narrow of view.
67. Some titles, such as “Mediatrix of All Graces,” have limits that do not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place. In fact, she, the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received. This is not a minor point since it reveals something central: even in Mary’s case, the gift of grace precedes her and comes from the absolutely free initiative of the Trinity in view of Christ’s merits. Like all of us, she did not merit her justification by a preceding action of her own,[172] nor did she do so by any subsequent action.[173] Even in Mary’s case, her friendship with God by grace is always freely bestowed. Her cherished figure is the supreme testimony of the believing receptivity of one who, more than anyone else, opened herself with docility and complete trust to Christ’s work, and who, at the same time, stands as the greatest sign of the transforming power of that grace.
68. On the other hand, the title “Mediatrix of All Graces” risks presenting Mary as the one who distributes spiritual goods or energies apart from our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the term “graces,” when seen in reference to Mary’s maternal help at various moments in our lives, can have an acceptable meaning. The plural form expresses all the aids — even material — that the Lord may grant us when he heeds his Mother’s intercession. These helps, in turn, prepare our hearts to open to God’s love. In this way, Mary, as Mother, has a presence in the daily lives of the faithful that is far greater than the closeness any other saint could have.
69. Through her intercession, Mary can implore God to grant us those internal impulses of the Holy Spirit that are called “actual graces.” These are the aids given by the Holy Spirit that operate even in sinners to prepare them for justification,[174] and that encourage those already justified by sanctifying grace to further growth. It is in this specific sense that the title “Mother of Grace” must be understood. She humbly cooperates so that we may open our hearts to the Lord, who alone can justify us through the action of sanctifying grace: that is, when God pours his Trinitarian life into us, dwells in us as a Friend, and makes us sharers in his divine life. This is exclusively the Lord’s own work. At the same time, it does not preclude the possibility that the words, images or various prompts that we receive through Mary’s maternal intercession might help us to persevere in life, to prepare our hearts for the grace that the Lord infuses, or to grow in the life of grace that we have freely received.
70. These aids that come from the Lord are presented to us with a maternal aspect, filled with the tenderness and closeness of the Mother whom Jesus wanted to share with us (cf. Jn 19:25-28). In this way, Mary carries out a unique activity to help us open our hearts to Christ and to his sanctifying grace, which elevates us and heals us. Whenever she brings us various “motions,” these should always be understood as promptings to open our lives to the One who alone works in our innermost being.
I would be very careful about challenging what the church has always professed. And I certainly must say that we must be very careful to never ever approach any kind of speech that might border on blasphemy against the Virgin Mary.I’m not trying to denigrate Mary, but
Many SAINTS (including numerous popes not limited to those mentioned innumerable times in the papal documents of Pius IX, Leo XIII, Saint Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII) have confessed and professed
Just to make sure what exactly you mean to say, also byfor CENTURIES, backed by saints from MORE centuries
in relation to aforementioned dictrinal note.what happens to the slightly overlooked part about “what the church has ALWAYS said
So Pope Leo XIII, Lucunda Semper Expectatione, said:
"... when He [the Father] has been invoked with excellent prayers, our humble voice turns to Mary; in accordance with no other law than that law of conciliation and petition which was expressed as follows by St. Bernardine of Siena : 'Every grace that is communicated to this world has a threefold course. For by excellent order, it is dispensed from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, from the Virgin to us.'"
Leo XIII, in the text referred to, spoke of her, as we saw above, as having "practically limitless power." St. Pius X said she was the "dispensatrix of all the gifts, and is the "neck" connecting the Head of the Mystical Body to the Members. But all power flows through the neck. Pius XII said "Her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion." These and many other texts speak in varied ways of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, so often that the teaching has become infallible.
I know you did not intend to misspell “doctrinal”… but you’re misspelling is somewhat amusingly revealing.aforementioned dictrinal note.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.