Fair rainbow and bush, which the Patriarch saw!
Hail, Gideon’s fleece, hail, blossoming rod,
Samson’s sweet honeycomb, portal of God!
Well fitting it was that a Son so divine
Should preserve from all touch of original sin:
Nor suffer by smallest defect to be stained,
That mother whom He for himself hath ordained.
V. I dwell in the highest.
R. And my throne is on the pillar of clouds.
Repeat---verses and prayer: O Lady, hear my prayer….Glory be
Hymn: Hail, virgin Mother, hail purity’s cell.
Fair shrine where the Trinity, loves to dwell,
Hail, garden of pleasure, celestial balm,
Cedar of chastity, martyrdom’s palm!
You, land set apart from uses profane,
And free from the curse which in Adam began!
You, city of God, you gate of the east,
In you is all grace, O joy of the blessed!
V. As the lily among thorns,
R. So is my beloved among the daughters of Adam.
Repeat---verses and prayer: O Lady, hear my prayer….Glory be….
Hymn: Hail city of refuge, hail David’s high tower,
With battlements crowned, and girded with power!
Filled at your conception with love and with light,
The dragon by you was shorn of his might.
O woman most valiant! O Judith thrice blest!
As David was nursed in fair Abisag’s breast,
As the Savior of Egypt upon Rachel’s knee:
So the world’s great Redeemer was cherished by thee.
V. You are all fair, my beloved.
R. And the original stain was never in you.
Repeat---verses and prayer: O Lady, hear my prayer….Glory be….
Hymn: Hail, dial of Achas! On you the true sun
Told backward the course which from old he had run,
And that man might be raised, submitting to shame,
A little more low than the Angels became.
You wrapped in the blaze of his infinite light,
Doest shine as the morn on the confines of light:
As the moon on the lost through obscurity dawns:
The serpent’s destroyer! A lily amid thorns!
V. I made an unfailing light to arise in heaven.
R. And as a mist I overspread the whole earth.
Repeat---verses and prayer: O Lady, hear my prayer….Glory be….
