Litany to the Virgin Mary: “We Adore You, Our Creator”
The litany of the Virgin Mary “We adore you, our Creator” (Nasjoudou laka ya Bârîna) is one of the Marian prayers and hymns in which the faithful turn to the Virgin Mary, asking for her intercession and help. It contains praise of the Virgin Mary, a meditation on her place in the mystery of salvation, and then a series of petitions that repeat the refrain “We ask you, O Mary.”
The hymn in Arabic
نسجد لك يا بارينا إذ قد أنعمت علينا
بالبتول النقيّة مريم.
فهي في كلّ حين تشفع فينا.
طوباك يا بنت الآب، وأمّ الابن حقًّا يقينًا،
وعروس الروح القدس، نحوك نرفع أيادينا.
الأنبياء عليك تنبّأوا، وداود جدّك ينبينا،
بأنّ منك يولد يسوع، ابن الله كي يفدينا.
أنتِ هي جزّة جدعون، ندى السماوات أعطينا،
أنتِ سلاح ربّ القوات، به نقهر أعادينا.
دانيال قد أبصرك جبلًا عاليًا وحصينًا،
قد حلّ الإله عليك، وملأك نورًا أمينًا.
بك كملت الأسرار، وانعتق آدم أبونا.
نطلب منك يا مريم، من الشيطان نجّينا.
نطلب منك يا مريم، من الآثام وقينا.
نطلب منك يا مريم، من الطاعون خلّصينا.
نطلب منك يا مريم، باركي ثمار أراضينا.
نطلب منك يا مريم، اشفي المرضى الموجعين.
نطلب منك يا مريم، أعيني الموتى المؤمنين.
نطلب منك يا مريم، كهنة قدّيسين أعطينا.
عليكِ سلام الله دائمًا، يا أمّ يسوع فادينا.
Meaning of the hymn
We adore you, O our Creator, for you have given us the most pure Virgin Mary, who intercedes for us at all times.
Blessed are you, Daughter of the Father, true and certain Mother of the Son, and Bride of the Holy Spirit: to you we lift up our hands.
The prophets foretold you, and David your forefather tells us that from you Jesus would be born, the Son of God, to redeem us.
You are Gideon’s fleece: give us the dew of heaven. You are the weapon of the Lord of hosts, by which we overcome our enemies.
Daniel saw you as a high and mighty mountain; God came down upon you and filled you with faithful light.
In you the mysteries were fulfilled, and Adam our father was set free.
We ask you, O Mary
We ask you, O Mary: deliver us from the devil.
We ask you, O Mary: keep us from sin.
We ask you, O Mary: save us from plague.
We ask you, O Mary: bless the fruits of our lands.
We ask you, O Mary: heal the sick who suffer.
We ask you, O Mary: help the faithful departed.
We ask you, O Mary: give us holy priests.
God’s peace be upon you always, O Mother of Jesus our Redeemer.
Memories of this litany
Every time we sing this litany to the Virgin Mary at prayer in our monastery, I find myself carried away in my imagination, without meaning to be, to a beautiful time of my life before the monastery, when as a young man I was a member of the Confraternity of the Virgin Mary in our parish.
When we prayed the confraternity’s office and reached this hymn, I used to imagine myself face to face with the Virgin Mary, because of the way the head of the confraternity and its members sang it.
From good hearts, with Marian humility and village pride, their voices rang out in song, joy and supplication to Mary their Mother, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary and Queen conceived without sin.
What touched me most, and this is the heart of the matter, was how they opened their hands, first when singing “to you we lift up our hands,” and then when repeating the petitions “We ask you, O Mary.”
They had complete trust that Mary was there in front of them, listening to them. They had not learned this from books; they grew up with it, from their fathers and grandfathers, and they guarded it the way parents guard their children.
It was a heavenly, Marian scene, flowing from hearts that knew only love, goodness and beauty.
Most of these good people have gone to their heavenly home, to sing for ever the hymn of glory and eternity.
And I, as I am today, bow before them, my family, my relatives and the dear people of my village, to tell them:
“I have learned from you and from the witness of your lives as much as I have learned from books and from life… You are a blessing here and in heaven.”
The most beautiful times, my friends.
Fr. Joseph Abi Aoun
