Forget Me Not ~ Mary's Eyes
The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins calls The Virgin Mary the air we breathe. Perhaps another way of saying it is Mary creates an atmosphere around Jesus: humility, quiet reflection, maternal love, the clean heart of the Gospels, living in God's Word, endurance and fidelity, praise and faith.
Prior to the Protestant Reformation all flowers in Europe had Marian names celebrating some aspect or virtue of the Mother of Jesus. Mary Gardens were planted to celebrate and keep that atmospheric sense sensually alive!
The Medieval poem-prayer to the Virgin Mary: O Maria virgo pia - which accompanies the flower images here, is sung by the group Anonymous 4. The group's name Anonymous suggests that the praises matter, not who the singers are. Here is the English translation of the Latin:
full of the grace of God,
you are called Star of the Sea
giving comfort by your light.
Christ's body,
which you have truly carried in your womb,
is hallowed so that through it
the serpent is completely doomed.
This is the body, O Mary,
born by you as virgin,
with which you were pregnant,
pious virgin, by the Holy Ghost.
This is the flesh
nailed to the yoke of the cross;
after its crucifixion it rose
and returned life to the world.
Let us now praise
Mary's wonderful Son
and sing this song
to the King of all kings.
