Praying with Mary

Rejoicing with you,
grieving with you,

Mary, graced by God --
Love's Mystery did come to you --
of our race we deem you
most the blessed,

save but the Blessed One,
the Child
who came to birth in you.

Woman holy,

trembling at the Presence
of the Angel,

willing the rare
and marvellous exchange,

in the darkness
holding the Unseen,

bearing forth
the Word made flesh
for earth's redeeming,

hold to your heart our world,
and pray for humankind,

that we with you
be bearers of the Christ,

through this
and all our days,
and at the last.

--The Rev. Jim Cotter (1942-2014), English priest, poet, and contributor to the New Zealand Prayer Book, from Prayer at Night's Approaching, 1983