Once again I am forced to thank the great god Algo for getting it right. Without any searching by me, today YouTube presented me with a new recording of Ave Maria by Alanis Morissette (this link lands on a playlist of her previous holiday recordings). Alanis performs a rendition of the iconic Franz Schubert song, with Latin text adapted from the Hail Mary prayer. I found myself immediately taken by its sublimely straightforward and poignant style. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!
Growing up Mormon, I understood this song to be taboo, as it verges on worshipping Mary. But really W&T readers, if we’re going to celebrate this holiday through music, we ought to sing about the character in the nativity story who actually does the heavy lifting. If it helps, just think of the lyrics as speaking casually through the veil.
Latin Text with English Translation
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Wheat & Tares 
Jake – thank you for posting this timely and tasteful addition to the Xmas canon. Much appreciated.
Thanks Jake – I really appreciate your talent for poetry.
This post also caused me to look up other versions of Ave Maria, including the performance by the Mormon Tabernacle choir, where they chose to sing the Protestant version
Heavenly Father, hear our prayer,
We seek Thee in supplication,
We come to Thee in our despair,
For Thou canst grant us Thy salvation,
Our lives are safe in Thine affection.
We dwell within Thy love divine.
Oh Father, render Thy protection,
Maintain and guard us ever Thine!
Heavenly Father!
Frankly this made me both sad and angry that we aren’t able to leave the artistic expression alone and allow it to work on us. Instead, the church has to protect its “Creeds”
and correct ideas about God’s supposed power system. Like you said, Mary is the one who did the heavy lifting, she carried the child, bore the child, raised the child and
was physically present to watch her child brutally killed by the oppressive Roman regime. This is yet another episode of choosing form over function, letter over spirit.
After all, if I recall correctly, the birth of Jesus, as the story is told, involved the union between Father and Mother, and yet, when we tell the most tender parts of the story
we leave Mother Mary absent.
Not to mention, have the powers that control this choice of song bothered to peruse our own hymn book. We blindly, if not gladly sing hymns borrowed from other traditions
and eras that promote ideas that don’t cleanly match up with Mormon theology. The fact is, it’s not about “creeds” or correct thinking and even if it were, we don’t even know
what we believe ourselves or we would remove half our hymn book and a good portion of the Book of Mormon.
Mormons seem to have done a knee jerk over reaction to Catholic reverence to Mary. It isn’t “worship” of Mary anyway. It is just giving the woman who did all the work of birthing Jesus credit for the work she put in and recognizing that Jesus loved her. It is like with everything else in life, women go through 9 months of pregnancy often sick for most or all of that time, then risk their life in childbirth and men pass out cigars and take all the credit, and insist the baby take their last name. I would say that rather than doctrine, this is an example of the Matilda tendency. At least if I remember correctly that is what this is called, but it is the way women get erased from history. This idea was named after the woman back in the 1800s who first observed that women who do really important things often get erased and the men around them take the credit, get the Nobel prize, and the woman who actually did the work and made the discovery is reduced to footnotes or the status of wife of the brilliant scientist who did nothing but marry a brilliant woman. So, we give as much honor the the shepherds or wisemen (because they were male) who just visited Jesus as we do to the woman who made it possible. And, I am positive there was a midwife there and she never got a mention. The midwife that delivered the baby got completely erased from history.
I think we should honor Mary much more than we do. If it wasn’t for Mary and her willingness to become pregnant and possibly lose the man she was engaged to marry, and all the public shaming that would have created, there would not be a Savior and the whole plan of salvation goes down in flames. As far as I am concerned, the Catholics are the only ones who get it right and we really should honor Mary way above the honor we give Joseph Smith, whom we practically worship.