be it done to me according to thy word;[1] and by thy own example also, who, though true God, yet obeyedst thy Mother, and likewise thy foster-father. And was subject to them. Shall not my soul be subject to God, and even to man also for God’s sake, when the first place was yielded to obedience both by the Mother of God, and by God himself?
Our daily bread.
We expect at thy hands the things necessary both for body and soul. For thou knowest, O Father, that we have need of all these things. But thy Mother is careful of us too, and entreats thee for her children. For as she hid not from thee of old the necessity of the bridegroom and the bride, so too does she take care of us, and reminds thee of the penury of the wretched. Hearken to her, O good Jesus, when she intercedes for us! Wilt thou, who hast so often had pity on the multitudes, and satisfied so many thousands, refuse bread to us, when we ask it of thee through thy Mother?
But behold, the bread which is my first desire was baked by that very Mother in her womb! Remember, O Lord, that thou art flesh of her flesh, born in Bethlehem, that is the house of Bread, and laid by her in the manger, like the fodder of beasts of burden. And behold, I am become as a beast before thee.[2] Who is there that can give me to eat fully and often of that fruit of the womb, the Bread of Angels, the sustenance to eternal life, which, neither dug nor sown, but all untilled, that blessed earth has budded forth? Feed me for the necessities of the body, but first of all of the soul, thou who givest food to all flesh, even to the young ravens that call upon thee! Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living thing.
And forgive us.
For we confess that by a large debt we are beholden to thee, and that we owe thee more than ten thousand talents. Alas! O good Jesus, that we are not able to pay I But with thee, O Lord, there is mercy. And, behold, thy Mother is our Advocate with thee. For there is no other who is so well able beside as thy most loving Mother, our Mediatress, through whom it was that we, O God, first received thy mercy. She it is in whom that priceless work of mercy, which thou, O God, before time was, hast predestined for our redemption, was first wrought by thee, the Maker of the world! She it is in whose womb was begun the salvation of the world. For there it was that the wall of
