Alma Redemptoris Mater

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes, Et stella maris, succurre cadenti, súrgere qui curat populo: Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem: Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

O loving Mother of our Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea,
Hasten to aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more.
Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator, all creation wond'ring,
Yet remainest ever Virgin, taking from Gabriel's lips
that joyful "Hail!": be merciful to us sinners.

“Alma” - this is not just a greeting, but already a description of the one whom we will be addressing - loving, dear, kind, nourishing, one who nurtured her Son and who nurtures us! Mary is the “gate of heaven” – because it is through her becoming the Mother of our Redeemer that we have been given the opportunity of gaining heaven. Mary is also given the title of Star of the Sea here - stella maris - an important reminder to us that, she is our guide, one who will, like a star spotted from a storm-tossed ship with no other means of navigation, be the hope which we glimpse and by which we realise that we now have a way of finding our way to a safe haven - the safe haven, of course, of heaven itself.

Our Latin Anthem immediately throws in petitions to Our Lady - as if we are indeed the storm-tossed sailors, suddenly spotting this star of hope - “aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more”. Mary’s nurturing, caring, is here seen as extending to helping and curing - a bringing back, not only towards our true home. Then we meditate on one of the amazing paradoxes of our faith: “Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator”. Mary, a created being, bears in her womb the uncreated Word - the Eternal Son of the Father - why? For us, as we heard in the first line - she is Mother of Our Redeemer - she bore Christ for that one reason - so that we might be redeemed and reconciled to God the Father, our Creator and her Creator.

St Bernard has a lovely reflection on the moment of the Angel’s Annunciation - imagining all of creation to be holding its breath, waiting for Mary’s yes. Mary did give her yes, her fiat, to God’s will and so bore our Redeemer, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. All creation is, as our anthem says, “wond’ring” in amazement! Gabriel’s message, his “Ave” - “Hail” given to Mary is a joyful message for Mary says yes to it, she accepts it, welcomes it, and opens up the whole of God’s redemption of us through her Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Mary chooses for God. And in line with this, respecting her purity, her absolute dedication to him, God willed that Mary “remainest ever Virgin,” before the Angel’s message and after, before the birth of her Son and after. With one so blessed, so much a part of God’s plan for salvation for us, one so much our guide, we can and should turn to her in our needs. Hence we say, “be merciful to us sinners”: we ask her for her loving help, she whom we first addressed as loving - we know Our Mother will indeed help us with her prayers.

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes, Et stella maris, succurre cadenti, súrgere qui curat populo: Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem: Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.
 

Ave Regina caelorum

Many thanks for all your prayers. We had about thirty people attend the last Extraordinary Form Mass for the Chair of St Peter: although down on the attendance at the first one, it was still very encouraging to see such a good mix of young and old.

Between Candlemas and Easter traditionally the Ave Regina caelorum is said or sung as the Marian Anthem:

Ave Regina caelorum! Ave Domina Angelorum! Salve radix, salve porta, ex qua mundo lux est orta. Gaude Virgo, gloriosa, super omnes speciosa. Vale, o valde decora, et pro nobis Christum exora.

Ave Regina caelorum! Ave Domina Angelorum! : our song begins with wonder - wonder and joy in addressing the Blessed Virgin Mary - Hail, Queen of Heaven. Hail, Lady of the Angels... These greetings address Mary, visualizing the glory into which she was assumed after her earthly life had run its course.

Next, her pivotal role in salvation history is emphasised: Salve radix, salve porta - Hail, the root, hail, the gateway! It is through Mary’s humble acceptance of God’s will that he could take our flesh in her womb and be born as man. And so it continues: ...ex qua mundo lux est orta... - from whom comes forth the Light into the world.

What possible response could there be to such a great privilege - to be the Theotokos, the God-Bearer? Gaude Virgo, gloriosa, super omnes speciosa - Rejoice, O Glorious Virgin, splendid above all else! Joy! Mary’s joy - and our joy at the wonder of this!

With one so glorious, so splendid, already seated as Queen among the Saints in heaven, it is then natural to turn to her for her powerful intercession: Vale, o valde decora - Do thou prevail, O thou who art of great virtue - et pro nobis Christum exora - and intercede for us with Christ.

This beautiful Anthem exults in Mary’s reversal of our fallen condition: it begins with two “Ave”s - Hail - but Ave is Eva - Eve - backwards - Mary is the New Eve, the one who reversed the disobedience of the First Eve. Mary is the one who will make possible the fulfilment of the Proto-evangelium of Genesis 3:15, when God addresses the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” By her obedience to God’s will, God could take flesh, and come among us as man, Jesus Christ - true God and true man - who would crush the ancient Serpent’s head. The First Eve (and the entire human race) fell through disobedience at the foot of a tree; through the New Eve’s obedience, he who would lift us up again could come into this world and destroy death, through dying himself on a Tree.

Mary is thus seen as the root of and the gateway by which our salvation has been made possible - by her gentle, obedient, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word” [Lk.1:38]. Because of her importance in God’s plan of salvation this Anthem turns to her with such wonder, such honour, and, playing twice more with the word, Eva, with Vale and valde - prevail and great - recognises that the New Eve’s influence and position in heaven in praying for us is surely greatly effective.

This beautiful Anthem to Our Lady is ideal for Lent with its subtle references to her role in letting God’s salvation come into our fallen world and the recognition of our continual need of help: a help we know that will be all the more forthcoming thanks to her prayers to Christ our Saviour.

Extraordinary Developments

I am fortunate that I am an Assistant priest - a Curate - in a busy city centre parish. I have been celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass here on my days off since I arrived here - initially in private - but, since I was convinced that there are people from the parish who would like to attend the “Traditional” or “Old” Mass, I have arranged that I can now celebrate Masses in the EF here, open to all on my days off. My first one attracted about fifty people. This was something quite unexpected! I anticipated maybe fifteen. Praise be to Our Lord Jesus Christ and to his Blessed Mother that so many people attended Holy Mass then.

Please pray for me as I prepare to celebrate another EF Mass this Tuesday for the Chair of St Peter. The Tract for that Mass, Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petrum aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, encapsulates the Church’s dependence on Peter and his Successors - “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church”. Please pray for Pope Benedict and all the bishops that they may be strengthened in the task assigned to them of being Good Shepherds of Christ's flock. Also, please pray especially for those people who have separated themselves/or have been separated from Christ’s Church - for whatever reason - that they might be reconciled to Holy Mother Church.