Our Lady's Presentation.
1 DAY breaks on temple-roofs and towers;
The city sleeps, the palms are still;
The fairest far of earth's fair flowers
Mounts Sion's sacred hill.
2 O wondrous Babe! O child of grace!
The Holy Trinity's delight!
Sweetly renewing man's lost race,
How fair Thou art, how bright!
3 Not all the vast angelic choirs,
That worship round the eternal throne,
With all their love can match the fires
Of thy one heart alone.
4 Since God created land and sea,
No love hath been so like divine;
For none was ever like to thee,
Nor worship like to thine.
5 Angels in Heaven, and souls on earth,
Thousands of years their songs may raise.
Nor equal thee, for thine was worth
All their united praise.
6 Not only was thy heart above
All heaven and earth could e'er attain.-
Thou gavest it with so much love,
'Twas worth as much again.
7 O Maiden most immaculate!
Make me to choose thy better part;
And give my Lord, with love as great,
An undivided heart.
8 Would that my heart, dear Lord! were true, Royal and undefiled and whole,
Like hers from whom Thy sweet love took
The Blood to save my soul.
9 If here our hearts grudge aught to Thee,-
In that bright land beyond the grave,
We'll worship thee with souls set free,
And give as Mary gave.
Our Lady's Expectation.
1 LIKE the dawning of the morning
On the mountain's golden heights,
Like the breaking of the moonbeams
On the gloom of cloudy nights,
Like a secret told by angels,
Getting known upon the earth,
Is the Mother's Expectation
Of Messiah's speedy birth!
2 Thou wert happy, blessed Mother! With the very bliss of heaven, Since the angel's salutation
In thy raptured ear was given; Since the Ave of that midnight, When thou wert anointed Queen, Like a river overflowing
Hath the grace within thee been. 3 On the mountains of Judea,
Like the chariot of the Lord,
Thou wert lifted in thy spirit
By the uncreated Word;
Gifts and graces flowed upon thee
In a sweet celestial strife,
And the growing of thy Burden
Was the lightening of thy life.
4 And what wonders have been in thee
All the day and all the night,
While the Angels fell before thee,
To adore the Light of Light.
While the glory of the Father
Hath been in thee as a home,
And the sceptre of creation
Hath been wielded in thy womb.
5 And the sweet strains of the psalmist Were a joy beyond control,
And the visions of the prophets
Burnt like transports in thy soul;
But the Burden that was growing,
And was felt so tenderly,
It was Heaven, it was Heaven,
Come before its time to thee.
60 the feeling of thy Burden,
It was touch and taste and sight;
It was newer still and newer,
All those nine months, day and night.
Like a treasure unexhausted,
Like a vision unconfess'd,
Like a rapture unforgotten,
It lay ever at thy breast.
7 Every moment did that Burden
Press upon thee with new grace;
Happy Mother! thou art longing
To behold the Saviour's Face!
O, His Human Face and Features
Must be passing sweet to see;
Thou hast seen them, happy Mother!
O, then, show them now to me.
8 Thou hast waited, Child of David!
And thy waiting now is o'er!
Thou hast seen Him, Blessed Mother!
And wilt see Him evermore!
O, His Human Face and Features,
They were passing sweet to see :
Thou beholdest them this moment;
Mother, show them now to me!
The Purification.
1 Joy! joy! the Mother comes,
And in her arms she brings
The Light of all the world,
The Christ, the King of kings;
And in her heart the while
All silently she sings.
2 St. Joseph follows near,
In rapture lost and love,
While angels round about
In glowing circles move,
And o'er the Mother broods
The Everlasting Dove.
3 There in the temple court
Old Simeon's heart beats high,
And Anna feeds her soul
With food of prophecy;
But, see! the shadows pass,
The world's true Light draws nigh.
4 O Infant God! O Christ!
O Light most beautiful!
Thou comest, Joy of Joys!
All darkness to annul;
And brightest lights of earth
Beside Thy Light are dull.
5 O Mary! bear Him quick
Into His temple-gate,
For poor impatient souls
His healing sunrise wait;
And pay His price, that He
May be emancipate.
6 Yes! thou wilt set Him free;
He will be wholly ours,
To lighten every soul
In earth's benighted bowers,
Undoing Adam's curse,
And turning thorns to flowers.
7 Ah! with what thrills of awe
The Mother's heart is teeming,
To think the new-born Light,
That o'er the world is streaming,
At His own Mother's hands
Should stoop to need redeeming.
8 Then to that Mother now
All rightful worship be!
For thou hast ransomed Him
Who first did ransom thee;
O, with thy Mother's tongue
Pray Him to ransom me!
The Dolours of Our Lady.
1 GOD of Mercy! let us run
Where yon fount of sorrows flows;
Pondering sweetly, one by one,
Jesu's wounds and Mary's woes.
2 Ah! those tears Our Lady shed, Enough to drown a world of sin; Tears that Jesu's sorrows fed,
Peace and pardon well may win!
3 His five Wounds a very home
For our prayers and praises prove;
And our Lady's Woes become
Endless joys in Heaven above.
4 Jesus, who for us didst die,
All on Thee our love we pour; And in the Holy Trinity
Worship Thee for evermore.
(From the Breviary, "Summæ Deus Clementiæ.")
The Assumption.
1 SING, sing, ye Angel Bands,
All beautiful and bright;
For higher still, and higher,
Through fields of starry light,
Mary, your Queen, ascends,
Like the sweet moon at night.
2 A fairer flower than she
On earth hath never been;
And, save the Throne of God.
Your heavens have never seen
A wonder half so bright
As your ascending Queen.
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