December 16 Book of Common Prayer - after Sarum Use

observed in Canadian Book of Common Prayer (1962)
Virgo virginum
The following Day, December 24 is the Midnight Mass 

Virgin of virgins,

how shall this be?

For neither before thee was any like thee,

nor shall there be after.

Daughters of Jerusalem,

why marvel ye at me?

That which ye behold is a divine mystery.

 

So young to offer God your innocence

you, human nature’s solitary boast;

mother, of the Son of God, the host

you are obedience, giving no offense.

Through such a one, the Holy Spirit comes

from heaven to earth to turn things upside down;

the mighty from their seats of power are thrown,

the self of God incarnate in your womb.

The meek shall rise, and peace shall come on earth.

The lowly folk on the periphery,

they, in your arms, God’s very splendour see

when the Father’s only Babe, you birth. 

Your life makes possible the purposes of God

You, more than other women, we applaud.

Harold Macdonald

O Antiphons | Festivals of Light | Harold Macdonald’s Advent Sonnets
O Emmanuel