Immaculate Mary

I just read a brilliant summary of Bl. John Duns Scotus theology of the Immaculate Conception. It is a beautiful dogma, along with the Franciscan theology of the Incarnation. I am warmed to the heart to think of the love of God and Mary's compassion towards sinful souls like myself. I've put a rosary on the post of my bed, and always think about taking up the rosary as taking up Mary's hand. A friend noted how odd he felt Marian devotion was, and how he could never get over it. I still have issues about soteriology sometimes as a Catholic, but I am thankful that in the area of Marian devotion, the Lord has given me great peace. I'm going to pray a rosary before bed, and plan when I'm going to confession this week.

“Holy ever-virgin Mother of God, happy, blessed,
glorious and noble, untouched and pure Mary,
Immaculate, chosen and beloved by God, endowed
with singular sanctity and worthy of all praise, who
are the mediator for the whole world when faced
with danger, hear, hear, hear us, Holy Mary. Pray
and intercede for us for we trust and we know for
certain that you can obtain everything that you wish
from your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Omnipotent God, King of All Ages, Who lives with
the Father and the Holy Spirit without end. Amen” - Book of Cerne ca. A.D. 850 (attributed to bishop Æthelwold)

"Hail, thou glory of this middle-world!
The purest woman throughout all the earth.
Of those that were from immemorial time
How rightly art thou named by all endowed
With gifts of speech! All mortals throughout earth
Declare full blithe of heart that thou art bride
Of Him that ruleth the empyral sphere.
So too, the highest in the heaven’s above,
The thanes of Christ, proclaim aloud and sing,
That thou by might of holiness art queen
Of the hosts of glory, of the ranks of men
On earth ’neath heaven, and of hell’s habitants,
For thou alone of all the race of men
With noble aspiration didst resolve
To bring thy maidenhood unto the Lord,
To offer it in all thy sinlessness" - Cynewulf "Dream of the Rood"