Mary makes us more attentive to the breath of the Spirit who prays within us

Hail, Mary, from whom the Almighty awaited an answer, while all of us were also waiting in the shadows. God imposed nothing on your freedom. You saw what was at stake, and believed that the fullness of time had come, when God would send his Son. You stripped yourself of your ego and put yourself at the Lord's disposal. 

Holy Mother of God, at first you were alone in bearing this inexpressible secret, then Joseph shared in it. Who better than you could enter into the Savior's plan? With a clear heart and unwavering resolve, you advanced along the path that lay before you. For thirty years and more, you kept all that was revealed to you in the silence of your heart. You watched over the Son, a little boy on his way to manhood; you followed him to Jerusalem, where he was exalted on the cross, and stood by his side. And even then your faith remained: alone, until the Lord appeared to others, you were certain of his resurrection from the dead, and in the company of the apostles you awaited the coming of the promised Spirit.

Holy Mother of God, we want you to maintain the place you held in the nascent Church. O Mother of the Risen One, like the apostles we remember your unique relationship with him; we see you as the first link of our own witness, and the model of a strong and unfailing faith. O Mother of the Savior and of all the saved, may your presence stimulate us and teach us to let ourselves be invaded and absorbed by the grace of our vocation. May your prayer encourage and envelop our own, making us attentive and flexible to the breath of the Spirit who prays within us.

L.-M. Dewailly, o.p.

in Le livre d'heures de Marie, texts collected by Alphonse Bossard, S.M.M.

Desclée de Brouwer, 1981, p. 121-123