Vigils Reading – Christmas Weekday

Look to Mary, Your Star7
from the Letters of Adam of Perseigne

You, Lady, are my all. In your hands has been stored for me the fullness of all good. With you have been hidden the unfailing treasures of truth and grace, of peace and pity, of salvation and wisdom, of glory and of honor. You are my anchor amid the billows, port in shipwreck, support in tribulation, comfort in grief. You are, for those who are yours, aid in oppression, help in time of crisis, temperance in prosperity, joy in time of waiting, refreshment in toil…

When you conceive the sun of righteousness, you like the moon are illumined by the good office of the blazing sun. The moon borrows from the sun the light which the nature of its gross body denies it. Therefore whatever beauty it possesses it has through the gift of its borrowed splendor. When you bring forth the sun of righteousness, you are compared to the sun because of the close likeness. Just as the body of the sun is not injured or diminished when it puts forth its rays, so the bringing forth of the holy birth does not violate the mother. And what, you who are glorious as the sun, what is your offspring but the eternal splendor of a certain sun?…

Therefore, dear friend, all our confidence lies in the childbearing of our Virgin and though I may be unworthy I shall not cease to dwell upon her praises. If you stand in need of mercy, it is found in full measure in the heart of the Virgin. If you reverence the truth, give thanks to the Virgin, since from the ground of her virgin flesh the truth which you worship has arisen. No less give thanks to the Virgin if you follow after peace, since from her is born for you the peace which passes all understanding. If you pursue justice, see that you are not ungrateful to the Virgin, for at the opening of her womb justice looked forth from heaven. If your faith is shaken by some assault from an enemy, turn your eyes upon the Virgin and that in which was wavering will be firmly fixed. If the lust of the flesh delights you, turn your gaze upon the Virgin, and the danger to your chastity is removed. If pride disturbs your spirit, turn your gaze upon the Virgin, and by the merit of her unsullied humility your swelling spirit will subside. If you are set on fire by anger’s torches, lift your eyes to the Virgin and you will grow gentle through her calm. If ignorance or error have led you astray from the way of life, look to Mary, star of the sea, and in her light you will be led back to the path of truth. If the vice of avarice commands your idolatrous worship, call to mind the generosity of the Virgin and with a love of poverty there will come to you the goodness of openhandedness. In every peril the goodness of the Virgin comes to succor, and powerful is it to succor. Give thank for her childbearing; from her fullness the sum total of graces has flowed. For us the Virgin brought forth, ours is the birth, for us the child was born and to us the son was given.

7 Adam of Perseigne. The Letters of Adam of Perseigne. CF 21. Trans. Grace Perigo. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, INC, 1976, 72-75.