A Pure Virgin

The Collect for Christmas Day speaks of the Lord Jesus "born of a pure virgin".

Almighty God,you have given us your only-begotten Sont o take our
nature upon himand as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:grant that we,
who have been born againand made your children by adoption and grace,may daily
be renewed by your Holy Spirit;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is
alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever.

You shouldn't take this to mean that Mary was absolutely pure: she was a sinner saved by grace just like the rest of us.

And nor should you think that virginity is necessarily or especially pure. You can be a slutty virgin or a pure husband. In life-long heterosexual marriage (the only kind of marriage there is, by the way) one can enjoy pure sex.

Prayer To Mary

I have just been leafing through the Armed Forces Operational Service and Prayer Book (Ministry of Defence, JSP 587, Armed Forces Chaplaincy Policy Board), which contains some useful and some not so useful material, including funeral services from other faiths.

I'm afraid that with the best will in the world, it seems to me that the "Evening Prayer [sic!] to Our Lady" gives to Mary the place that belongs only to Christ. I don't think she or her son would like it!

Please don't "pray" it. You can read it here for research purposes only!

Hail holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To Thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
to Thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and wailing in this vale of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, Thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of Thy womb Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

(p22)

Capital letters for Mary seems to me to give her far too high a status.

Better to go straight to Christ, knowing that he is the only mediator between God and man and that anyone who comes to him he will by no means turn away.

This prayer seems to me obviously to pray to Mary whereas I have heard some try to distinguish talking to Mary and asking her to pray for us, which sounds like as a bit of a fudge to me anyway.