Introduction
The Tilers and Thatchers of fourteenth-century York continue their Nativity play, with Mary alone in the ramshackle Bethlehem stable — Joseph her betrothed guardian has gone out into the cold night air to find some light. She is praising God, and awaiting the birth of the miraculous child foretold to her by the archangel Gabriel nine months ago in Nazareth.
Mary
NOW in my soul great joy have I:
I am all clad in comfort clear.
Now will be born of my body
Both God and man together in fear.*
Blest may he be.
Jesu, my Son that is so dear,
Now born is he.*
Hail my Lord God, Hail prince of peace,*
Hail my Father,* and hail my Son,
Hail sovereign man all sins to cease,
Hail God and man in earth as one!
Hail, through whose might
All this world was first begun,
In darkness and light.*
Son, as I am simple subject of thine,
Vouchsafe, sweet Son I pray thee,
That I might thee take in these arms of mine,
And in these poor weeds* to array thee.
Grant me the bliss
As I am thy mother chosen to be
In faithfulness.
* The ‘fear of God’ is an attitude of humble and obedient respect towards God. St Paul in Hebrews 5:8, says of Christ as man, that “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered”. On Christ’s two wills, human and divine, see The Synod of Hatfield.
* ‘Now will be born of my body’ changes to ‘Now born is he’ within four lines. This reflects the tradition that Mary felt no birth pangs. Labour pains were a chastisement laid on Eve and her daughters after Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden: see Genesis 3:16. Mary is the second Eve, just as Jesus is the second Adam, so the chastisement was not laid on her.
* See Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
* Mary is quoting still from the prophecy of Isaiah, where ‘The Prince of Peace’ is also ‘The Everlasting Father’. Clearly the Son and the Father are not actually the same person, but in John 14:7-11 Jesus tells Philip that “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” since “I am in the Father, and the Father in me”.
The reference is to the opening chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, which tells how God created light and separated Night from Day.
* ‘Weeds’ are garments: we still speak humorously of ‘widow’s weeds’, the black clothing customarily worn by recently widowed women.
Précis
Now alone in the stable, Mary prepared for the birth of her child, and almost unnoticed he stole into the world. Mary wonderingly acclaimed him by the kingly titles foretold in the Scriptures, and then — begging his pardon, but trusting in her role as mother — she reached out to take him her arms, and wrapped him in swaddling bands. (59 / 60 words)
Now alone in the stable, Mary prepared for the birth of her child, and almost unnoticed he stole into the world. Mary wonderingly acclaimed him by the kingly titles foretold in the Scriptures, and then — begging his pardon, but trusting in her role as mother — she reached out to take him her arms, and wrapped him in swaddling bands.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, if, just, may, or, ought, until, whether.
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