Beyond Compare More Glorious than the Seraphim

At the end of Holy Mass today, we renewed the devotional election of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as Abbess and Queen of our monastery, a practice well rooted in monastic history, and one that unites us in a particular way, not only to the daughters of Mother Mectilde de Bar, but also to the monks of Mount Athos who venerate the All-Holy Mother of God as Abbess of the Holy Mountain.

O Immaculate Virgin Mary,
all-lovely, and conceived without sin,
in the name of the community such as it is today,
and such as it shall be in time to come,
I solemnly reaffirm
that thou, the true Mother of God, more honorable than the cherubim,
and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim.
art forever elected, named, and recognized
as the ever-worthy, glorious,
and sovereign Lady and Abbess of this monastery,
that is, of all the monasteries dedicated to thee,
the most fragile and the most in need of the care and attention
of thy maternal Heart.

With profound humility and confidence,
I beg thee, in thy most tender pity
to take this struggling and vulnerable infant monastery
under thy singular care and special protection,
and to obtain for us
the incomparable grace of the Divine Friendship
of the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus,
in fidelity to the Rule of Saint Benedict
and to the mission of adoration, reparation, and charity for priests,
bestowed upon us by the Father of lights,
from whom descends every good gift.

I further offer to thy maternal Heart O sovereign Lady and Abbess
all who have assisted this little monastery
by their presence, their labour, their prayers,
and their material support,
asking thee to extend the veil of thy holy protection and perpetual help
over them and over their families, their loved ones,
their homes, and their places of work and business.

Receive us, then, all-holy and merciful Mother of Jesus Christ,
as thy servants and as sons of thine own household.
Make thou full use of thy rights and of thy power over us,
and over the temporal and spiritual affairs of this house,
lest thine own honour be mocked,
and thy house looked upon with scorn,
and thy sons derided.

We accept and avow that Thou art our sovereign Lady,
our Abbess, and our Queen,
and by this act renewed today in view of thy Divine Son,
of the choirs of angels,
of Saint Joseph, Saint John, our father Saint Benedict,
and of all the saints,
we bind ourselves to depend upon thee,
and look to thee for all things.

We renew into thy hands the sacred vows of our baptism,
and those of monastic profession,
asking thee to fashion us
into true adorers of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus,
and consolers of His Eucharistic Heart.
O Holy Mother of God,
we beseech thee with all the humility possible
to continue in the office to which we have elected thee,
and to rule over, protect, and provide for this house
and for those who dwell herein now
and will dwell herein in the days to come,
so that Jesus, the Lamb of God, immolated and forever living,
present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar,
may be forever praised and adored
in our hearts and in the sanctuary of this monastery which is all thine.
Amen.