Please read slowly the following passages from Sacred Scripture.
Genesis
The Lord God said to the serpent …] I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
she will crush your head, and you will strike her heel.
Judges
Most blessed among women is Jael… She put her left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman’s hammer, and she struck Sisara, seeking in his head a place for the wound
Judith
Judith shouted to the guards at the gates: “Open! Open the gate! God, our God, is with us." …]
Judith urged them with a loud voice:
“Praise God, give praise!
Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel,
but has shattered our enemies by my hand this very night!” …]
“Here is the head of Holofernes…
The Lord struck him down by the hand of a female!
… and that he did not defile me with sin or shame.
Uzziah said to her,
“Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth;
and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth,
who guided your blow at the head of the leader of our enemies.
Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who recall the might of God.
May God make this redound to your everlasting honor, rewarding you with blessings, because you risked your life when our people were being oppressed,
and you averted our disaster,
walking in the straight path before our God.”
1 Kings
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah.
And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne;
then he had a throne set for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right.
Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me.”
And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
** Psalm 45**
Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.
The bride, a princess, looks glorious in her golden gown. In embroidered garments she is presented to the king.
In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her-- those brought to be with her.
What a joyful and enthusiastic procession as they enter the king’s palace!
In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.
I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.
Psalm 116
O Lord, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid …
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
Exodus
Honor your father and your mother.
Isaiah
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
and will call him Immanuel.
Micah
The ruler in Israel will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne.
Matthew
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” which means “God with us”.
Luke
Then the angel told her: "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus “God saves”].
…] The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
…] And Mary said:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done unto me according to your word.”
…]“My soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices
in God my Savior”
Canticle of Canticles
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no stain in you.
You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes.
A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
There are …] virgins without number.
My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
Revelation
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…
She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron…
And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of…
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray…
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time…
…] the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
2 John
The Elder,
To the elect lady and her children,
whom I love in truth,
and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth …]
Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink;
but I hope to come to you and speak face to face,
that our joy may be full.
