The angel Gabriel from Heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
“All hail,” said he, “thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

“For know a blessèd mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,
“My soul shall laud and magnify His holy Name.”
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say—
“Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Gabriel, from the Heaven descending,
On the faithful Word attending,
Is in holy converse blending
With the virgin full of grace:

That good word and sweet he plighteth
In the bosom where it lighteth,
And for Eva Ave writeth,
Changing Eva’s name and race.

At the promise that he sendeth
God the Incarnate Word descendeth;
Yet no carnal touch offendeth
Her, the undefilèd one.

She, without a father, beareth,
She no bridal union shareth,
And a painless birth declareth
That she bare the Royal Son.

Tale that wondering search entices!
But believe—and that suffices;
It is not for man’s devices
Here to pry with gaze unmeet:

High the sign, its place assuming
In the bush, the unconsuming:
Mortal, veil thine eyes presuming,
Loose thy shoes from off thy feet.

As the rod, by wondrous power,
Moistened not by dew or shower,
Bare the almond and the flower,
Thus He came, the virgin’s fruit:

Hail the Fruit, O world, with gladness!
Fruit of joy and not of sadness:
Adam had not lapsed to madness
Had he tasted of its shoot.

Jesus, kind above all other,
Gentle Child of gentle mother,
In the stable born our Brother,
Whom the angelic hosts adore:

He, once cradled in a manger,
Heal our sin and calm our danger;
For our life, to this world stranger,
Is in peril evermore.

To a maid engaged to Joseph, the angel Gabriel came.
“Fear not,” the angel told her, “I come to bring good news,
Good news I come to tell you, good news, I say, good news.

“For you are highly favored by the God the Lord of all,
Who even now is with you. You are on earth most blest,
You are most blest, most blessèd, God chose you, you are blest!”

But Mary was most troubled to hear the angel’s word.
What was the angel saying? It troubled her to hear,
To hear the angel’s message, it troubled her to hear.

“Fear not, for God is with you, and you shall bear a child.
His name shall be called Jesus, God’s offspring from on high.
And he shall reign forever, forever reign on high.”

“How shall this be?” said Mary, “I am not yet a wife.”
The angel answered quickly, “The power of the Most High
Will come upon you shortly, your child will be God’s child.”

As Mary heard the angel, she wondered at his words.
“Behold, I am your handmaid,” she said unto her God.
“So be it; I am ready according to your word.”

The God Whom earth, and sea, and sky,
Adore, and laud, and magnify,
Who o’er their threefold fabric reigns,
The virgin’s spotless womb contains.

The God Whose will by moon and sun
And all things in due course is done,
Is borne upon a maiden’s breast,
By fullest heavenly grace possest.

How blest the mother, in whose shrine
The great Artificer Divine,
Whose hand contains the earth and sky,
Vouchsafed, as in His ark, to lie!

Blest, in the message Gabriel brought;
Blest, by the work the Spirit wrought:
From whom the Great Desire of earth
Took human flesh and human birth.

All honor, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, virgin-born, to Thee!
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.

Hail, O star that pointest
Towards the port of Heaven,
Thou to whom as maiden
God for Son was given.

When the salutation
Gabriel had spoken,
Peace was shed upon us,
Eva’s bonds were broken.

Bound by Satan’s fetters,
Health and vision needing,
God will aid and light us
At thy gentle pleading.

Jesu’s tender mother,
Make thy supplication
Unto Him Who chose thee
At His incarnation;

That, O matchless maiden,
Passing meek and lowly,
Thy dear Son may make us
Blameless, chaste and holy.

So, as now we journey
Aid our weak endeavor,
Till we gaze on Jesus,
And rejoice forever.

Father, Son and Spirit,
Three in One confessing,
Give we equal glory,
Equal praise and blessing.

Now yield we thanks and praise to Christ enthroned in glory,
And on this day of days tell out redemption’s story,
Who truly have believed that on this blessèd morn,
In holiness conceived, the Son of God was born.

What tribute shall we pay to Him who came in weakness,
And in a manger lay to teach His people meekness?
Let every house be bright; let praises never cease;
With mercies infinite our Christ hath brought us peace.

From east to west, from shore to shore,
Let every heart awake and sing
The holy Child Whom Mary bore,
The Christ, the everlasting King.

Behold, the world’s Creator wears
The form and fashion of a slave;
Our very flesh our Maker shares,
His fallen creature, man, to save.

For this how wondrously He wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of His grace.

She bowed her to the angel’s word
Declaring what the Father willed,
And suddenly the promised Lord
That pure and hallowed temple filled.

He shrank not from the oxen’s stall,
He lay within the manger bed,
And He whose bounty feedeth all
At Mary’s breast Himself was fed.

And while the angels in the sky
Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor the Lord Most High,
The one great Shepherd, was revealed.

All glory for this blessèd morn
To God the Father ever be;
All praise to Thee, O virgin born,
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee.