Our Lady; The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, is both our Mother

and our Queen.

With her entire life, attitude, cooperation, purity, she is a perfect

model for us to imitate.

Because in the same way as we imitate, download, are shaped

by, our biological mother; as children we are profoundly

affected by our mother's proximity and our dependence on her,

Our Lady, Our spiritual Mother, is our model for us to imitate in

order to grow in holiness.

The Magnificat; Our Lady's own prayer, which came out of her

meeting with her cousin Elisabeth; recounted in the second joyful

Mystery,

describes how it is only by submitting ourselves entirely to God,

in trust and humility, that God can operate in us; it is the only way

we can truly become available to Him.

It is to be poor in spirit.

The Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

This is in sharp contrast to the ways of the world, which tells us

to make our mark, to make our presence be seen and heard, to

be somebody, to be ambitious and selfish.

And pride is on top of the list of mortal sins;

sins which leads to damnation. It is probably the most widespread;

unconsciously maybe, we look for recognition, motivated in our

actions by ambition, by vainglory. Even in the spiritual sphere,

pride props back up from under the superficial surface of false

humility.

But God, who is both visible and invisible, works away in the background,

outside our immediate awareness, discreetly, gently and quietly.

Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina)

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve;
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.