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.