{"id":3480,"date":"2009-01-01T10:53:04","date_gmt":"2009-01-01T10:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/01\/2009-belongs-to-our-lady\/"},"modified":"2019-01-01T09:42:38","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T09:42:38","slug":"2009-belongs-to-our-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2009\/01\/2009-belongs-to-our-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 Belongs to Our Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Murillo,<\/a><\/span><\/em>For over thirty years now, my dear old friend Father Jacob, O.P. and I have renewed our consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God annually on January 1st. Experience has taught\u00a0me the wisdom of entrusting the new year to Our Blessed Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces. Readers of Vultus Christi<\/em> may want to join me in asking the Mother of God again today to open her hands over the entire year.<\/p>\n

I offer today my translation of the sublime prayer of Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo (+667). This prayer, taken from his treatise De virginitate perpetua Sanctae Mariae<\/span>, is one of the earliest expressions of total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In it, heralding an expression that Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort will make famous, the Bishop of Toledo declares himself the slave of Mary, Handmaid of the Lord. He also emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit with theological keenness and tender piety.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the prayer, I chose Murillo’s painting of the Virgin Mother bestowing on Saint Ildephonsus a splendid (blue and gold!) chasuble woven in heaven, to reward him for having written so beautifully in defense of her perpetual virginity.<\/p>\n

Prayer of Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo, Bishop<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Abundance of the Sweetness of Thy Son<\/em>
\nI come to thee, only Virgin Mother of God,
\nand fall prostrate before thee,
\nwho alone didst cooperate in the Incarnation of God.
\nI humble myself before thee,
\nwho alone wast found to be the Mother of my Lord.
\nI pray thee, who alone wast found to be the handmaid of thy Son:
\nobtain that my sins be wiped away;
\ncommand that I be cleansed of the wickedness of my deeds,
\nand, that I may love the glory of thy virtue,
\nreveal to me the abundance of the sweetness of thy Son.
\n\"Murillo,<\/a><\/span>
\nThou Art His Co-Worker in My Redemption
\n<\/em>Bestow upon me the gift of proclaiming the true faith of thy Son,
\nand of defending it.
\nGrant that I may cleave to God and to thee,
\nthat I may serve thy Son and thee,
\nthat I may be His bondsman and thine;
\nHis, because He is my Creator,
\nand thine, because thou art the Mother of my Creator;
\nHis, because He is Lord of the angelic powers,
\nand thine, because thou art the handmaid of the Lord of All;
\nHis, because He is God,
\nand thine because thou art the Mother of God;
\nHis, because He is my Redeemer,
\nand thine because thou art His co-worker in my redemption.<\/p>\n

The Body by Which He Healed My Wounds
\n<\/em>That which He wrought for my redemption,
\nverily He formed in thine own person.
\nThat He might be my Redeemer,
\nHe became thy Son.
\nThat He might be the price of my ransom,
\nHe became incarnate of thy flesh.
\nThe Body by which He healed my wounds,
\nHe took from thee so that He, in it, might be wounded.
\nThe mortal Body by which He took away my death,
\nHe took from thy mortality.
\nThe Body by which He brought my sins to nought,
\nHe received sinless from thee.
\nThis nature of mine that ahead of time, in Himself,
\nHe placed above the angels in the glory of His Father’s right hand,
\nHe assumed — humbling Himself — out of thine own true body.<\/p>\n

I Am Thy Slave
\n<\/em>Therefore, I am thy slave,
\nbecause Thy Son is my Master.
\nTherefore thou art my Lady,
\nbecause thou art the handmaid of my Lord.
\nTherefore I am the slave of the handmaid of my Lord,
\nbecause thou, my Lady, didst become the Mother of my Lord.
\nTherefore I have become thy slave,
\nbecause thou didst become the Mother of my Maker.<\/p>\n

By the Holy Spirit
\n<\/em>I pray thee, I pray thee, holy Virgin,
\nmay I, by the Spirit through Whom thou didst give birth to Jesus,
\nhave Jesus and hold Him.
\nBy that Spirit through Whom
\nthou didst conceive this same Jesus in thy flesh,
\nmay my soul receive Jesus.
\nLet the Spirit gift me with the knowledge of Jesus,
\nthis Spirit by Whom it was given Thee to bear Jesus and to give Him birth.
\nLet the Spirit in Whom thou didst declare thyself the handmaid of the Lord,
\nchoosing that it should be done unto thee according to the Angel’s word,
\ngrant me to proclaim the heights of Jesus with lowliness.<\/p>\n

To Love Jesus and to Fear Him
\n<\/em>In the Spirit thou didst adore Jesus as thy Lord
\nand gaze upon Him as thy Son;
\nin that same Spirit may I love Him.
\nAnd may I fear this same Jesus,
\nwith that reverence by which He, truly being God,
\nbecame subject to His parents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over thirty years now, my dear old friend Father Jacob, O.P. and I have renewed our consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God annually on January 1st. Experience has taught\u00a0me the wisdom of entrusting the new year to Our Blessed Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces. Readers of Vultus Christi may want to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blessed-virgin-mary","category-christmastide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-U8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3480"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19968,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3480\/revisions\/19968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}