THE HOLY TRUTH

"May the outward and the inner man be at one."

- Socrates

ABILITY

"Ability is a poor man's wealth."

-M Wren, Sunrise to Starlight

BETRAYAL

What God hath joined, of old the Bible says,
let mankind not divide on pain of sin
though no one blinks an eye in present days
when fathers recklessly abandon wife and kin.
Sad though it be, it is conceded now
that partners may be spurned once beauty's gone
regardless of the grave and solemn vow
which at God's altar fused two lives as one.
The children and the partner, cut adrift, left in a flat where poverty abounds
discover soon that he was very swift
to choose again, despite their pleading sounds.
Yet whereas he revels though they must endure
God's just mills are grinding, slowly but sure.

                                                  Luky Whittle

THE ROSE SPEAKS FOR US

THE ROSE SPEAKS FOR US

I know why there are flowers

in this world of storm and snows;

why this drear earth of ours

can bear the perfect rose.

We try, dear Lady, vainly,

thy beauty to express,

but words cannot encompass

thy perfect loveliness.

But when men and angels falter,

God has spoken; and we see

in this rose upon thy altar

the perfect praise of thee.

Sister M Catherine OSU

In: Robert. 1946

From 'A Silence full of bells'

PRESENTATION (Thought for November 21)

PRESENTATION*

(Thought for November 21)

"She is such a tiny thing -"

began her father, Joachim.

"The neighbours say she's growing tall,"

Anne contradicted him.

"I'm finishing a chair for her,"

his voice more strongly pled.

"We'll give it to our nephew's wife

with Mary's little bed."

"Her eyes are like twin pools of blue,

her hair a sea of curls."

"What grace! Our only child to be

one of the temple girls."

"But it's so far and we are old,"

his voice broke at the word,

and Anne turned suddenly away

as if she hadn't heard.

Sister M Catherine OSU

Catholic Home Journal. Undated

---------------------------------------------------------

*According to Catholic tradition, the Blessed Virgin was dedicated to God by her parents, Anne and Joachim, and sent to the Temple, in accordance with a pious Jewish religious custom, when she was but three years old. The feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin is celebrated on 21 November.

From 'A Silence full of bells'

OUR LADY OF THE HOME

OUR LADY OF THE HOME

Men have called you every lovely thing,

Lady of roses, of sunlight, of spring;

but there are times I cannot pray

to you in just their way

Queen of the Angels,
Star of the Deep,
pray for me
while I dust and sweep ...
would seem a strangely worded hymn
to the listening seraphim.
You will not mind, then, if instead
I pray: "My Lady, baking bread,
weeding the garden, or stopping to sew,
Queen of the world all women know,
watch over me each time I do
these tasks that make me more like you."

Sister M Catherine OSU
Magnificat. June 1944



From 'A Silence full of bells'

OUR LADY OF MERCY

OUR LADY OF MERCY

Our Lady walks the parapets of heaven

(her feet were sandalled once against the dust)

Our Lady's hands are beautiful with blessings

(the Nazareth beggars blessed them for a crust.)

She leans her head across the brilliant rampart -

(the latchless door at Nazareth stood wide)

Our Lady's hands are beautiful with blessings

(and angels watched the beggars there and sighed.)

She hears the mystic litany of angels,

a prayer no mortal knows and none could say,

but they who have no need can find no mercy -

"Most gracious advocate, turn thine eyes this way."

Sister M Bertram OM

Spirit. 1938

From 'A Silence full of bells'

OFFICIUM PARVUM BEATAE MARIAE VIRGINIS

OFFICIUM PARVUM

BEATAE MARIAE VIRGINIS

What voices, in what languages, before

what altars have reiterated thy

most ancient eulogies, have lifted high

the dim melodious burden of the Psalms?

(their overtones are here, forever more.)

within what moated castles, near what palms,

in what lost country and beneath what sky?

What distance have thy praises come since first

a monarch dreamed about his hillside days,

remembering the wind, the sun, the thirst,

"as in a desert and a pathless place"?

from in principio to nunc is long,

and we who speak but scarcely know the sense

of what we say, live in another tense

than Ananias, Jacob, Zachary,

yet from our uninitiate lips the song

pours like the ointment worth a hundred pence

and bathes the wounded Feet of Royalty.

Sister M Bernetta

America. 31 May 1947

___________________________________________________________ 

Officium Parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis - Short Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
From 'in principio' to 'nunc' - From 'In the begiinning' to 'now'

From 'A Silence full of bells'

LADY OF MERCY

LADY OF MERCY 

Lady of mercy

my mother, my queen

we know not your loveliness

who never have seen

your face over Bethlehem

tenderly bent,

sole Mediatrix,

one mother, fast friend.

No, not alone Bethlehem,

Nazareth too

where God, your own Son,

chose to magnify you:

three decades of love, Mary,

brimful of grace!

bend down, Virgin, melt us

with flame of your face.

Recall us, O Mother,

to Cana again,

where your Child taught His children

your mercy to men.

slow time cannot change

that answer divine

of your Son when you whispered:

"They have (Love) now wine."

Lady of martyrs

by Calvary's wood,

the blood of your Christ

crimsoned earth where you stood:

each stain a sword-twist

in Simeon's thrust - 

heart of earth's sorrow,

quicken our trust!

Bethlehem cave

to Golgotha hill

was toll of your love, Mary,

choice of your will.

John was your second child,

mankind your third -

Oh, bring us your First-Born,

give us God's Word!

Sister M Aquinas RSM

Magnificat. Undated

_____________________________

From 'A Silence full of bells'

IN NAZARETH

IN NAZARETH

There was a gayness, Mother mine, around you

that day in Nazareth,

bent wings had hushed the fear that bound you,

and now your quickened breath

told of God's pact in silence ... morning found you

seeking Elizabeth.

There was a hill you traversed in dawn's brightness,

remember brambles there?

They slashed you, cut you, broke your heavenly lightness

in the sweet morning air,

yet ever did the Holy Spirit's whiteness

enshroud you with His care.

And we who walk a dawnlit slope, wind blowing, 

in these our White Host years,

catch at your hand with eyes shut tight, safe-knowing

though the wild tempest rears,

we'll garner in our Mary-way your sowing

despite our fears.

Sister M Angeline

Catholic World. December 1942

From 'A Silence full of bells'

TO OUR LADY IN WINTER

TO OUR LADY IN WINTER

Lady, a transient stranger was the snow

in your far Syrian village,

where vine and olive, in the sun's fierce glow,

scarce asked the rich soil's tillage

But how you would have smiled to see it, Sweet!

here in the city's highway,

hastening at dusk with swift and stainless feet

down the long lanes of skyway.

It would have been so eloquent, I know,

in its  untarnished pureness

of what you prized most dear, would not forego

for any honour's sureness.

Its soundless fall - a muting finger laid

on the great city's humming - 

would have recalled to you, O Mother-Maid

the Spirit's noiseless coming.

You would have loved - how much! - to see it fling

a swift, a kindly veiling

of pure compassion on each sordid thing,

hiding earth's every failing.

To soon it wears the grime, in lane and street, 

of traffic and of toiling;

but you, of all earth's daughters, Lady sweet,

were snow beyond her soiling.

Sister M Angelita

Commonweal. February 1929

From 'A Silence full of bells'

MEMORIES OF THE ASSUMPTION

MEMORIES OF THE ASSUMPTION

They bore her in a reverent group

To a holy place,

left her body in the earth - her body, "full of grace."

But Thomas, tardy, slow of foot,

absent when she died,

spent with sorrow, craved to see

her of the Crucified.

There was a swift intake of breath,

a hurried silent prayer:

startled they opened the new-made tomb

to find but lilies there. *

Sister M Angeline SSND

In: Robert. 1944

___________________________________________________

* This refers to the millenia-old tradition that when Mary's last resting place was opened, only lilies were found. Ancient Christian tradition teaches that Mary did not suffer mortal bodily decay

From 'A Silence full of bells'

MARIAN FEAST DAYS

MARIAN FEAST DAYS

According to Christian tradition, honor of Jesus Christ the Son of God is interwoven with the history of His mother, Mary.
  Popular church tradition made points of remembrance of the life of Jesus by remembering His family history.

Prayer rhythm of Church
The life of Mary from the Annunciation to her Assumption was one of ongoing relationship with God.
  In remembrance of the great work God carried out within her life, the church celebrates days of remembrance and prayer.
  Marian feastdays - days of special remembrance - have been included within the prayer rhythm of the Church. 
  These days of special remembrance have been solemnized by the Church in order to encourage personal and communal prayer.

  These days are popularly known as 'Feasts'. Ancient and medieval Christian history evince many instances in which these days were marked by attendance at Holy Mass, followed by feasting and rest from manual labor.

Marian Feastdays
Date Feast is Celebrated in the Church
January 1st - Mary, the holy Mother of God
January 3rd - Our Lady of Sichem, Belgium
January 4th - Our Lady of Treves, Italy
January 5th - Our Lady of Abundance or Prosperity, Italy
January 6th - Our Lady of Cana
January 7th - Our Lady of Egypt
January 8th - Our Lady of Prompt Succour
January 9th - Our Lady beyond the Tiber, Rome/ and Our Lady of Absam, Austria
January 10th - Our Lady of Guides, Turkey
February 2nd - Candlemas/ or the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple
February 11th - Our Lady of Lourdes
March 25th - the Annunciation of the Lord
April 27th - Our Lady of Montserrat
During month of May - May devotions in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
May 13th - Our Lady of Fatima
May 31st in the West, March 30th in the East - the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
9 days after Corpus Christi - The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
July 16th - Our Lady of Mount Carmel
August 5th - Dedication of Mary of the snows
August 15th - the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
August 22nd - the Queenship of Mary
September 8th - The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
September 12th - The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary
September 15th - Mother of Sorrows
September 24th - Our Lady of Walsingham
October month - is known as Rosary month, where congregants are encouraged to pray the rosary, thus reflecting on the events of the life of Jesus Christ and His family
October 7th - Our Lady of the Rosary
November 21st - The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8th - The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 12th - Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 25th - The Nativity of Our Lord [Christmas]
Holy Family - First Sunday after Christmas

*The first Saturday of each month is also dedicated to Marian devotions

ASSUMPTA EST MARIA

ASSUMPTA EST MARIA *

The solemn years have spent their languid length,

today shall mark the waning of their strength.

The yearning tranquil fire has burned until

consumed is Mary's heart, confirmed her will.

Eternal moment turns a portent face,

Omnipotence stoops low with loving grace.

Impatient, silent angels mute their song,

whose theme delayed her coming to them long.

In body borne on reverent angels' wings,

her God, her magnet in her soul's glad flight,

beauty to beauty, earth unto heaven's delight,

"My soul doth magnify the Lord," she sings.

Sister M Alicia

Magnificat. August 1944

____________________________

*Mary is assumed (into heaven)

From 'A Silence full of bells'

MANIFESTATION

MANIFESTATION

The crowned ones of the earth are kneeling

before a crownless King

the light of strange star is stealing

through chinks where cobwebs cling.

The little house is poor and lowly;

its light is small and dim,

but, Oh, it holds the "Holy, holy"

theme of seraphim.

The maiden Mother leaves her spinning,

( thread so smooth and slight)

for He who was in the beginning

begins a work tonight.

Three truly wise men, home returning

along their secret ways

will be three torches brightly burning

to set the East ablaze.

And Mary, for her Son receiving

myrrh, frankincense, and gold,

sings in her humble heart, believing

the prophecies of old.

She gives the gold to Joseph, thinking

of wrath and sudden flight

before another sun goes sinking

to hide them safe in night.

The incense, sold, will be provision

in Egypt's pagan gloom.

The myrrh she hides with swift decision:

Oh, years away His tomb!

Sister M Albertina CDP

Sign. December 1958

From 'A Silence full of bells'

MARY COMPARED TO A MOTHER BIRD

MARY COMPARED TO A MOTHER BIRD

This single-hearted Mother is all eyes;

a circling bird on daylong, nightlong wings

yearning above a bone-branched paradise

where nests her young among our straw-gold strings,

or, shuttling through the wind, she weaves a roof

seamless as peace against all wild-flown thieves,

then soars above crossed boughs in constant proof

that all her love lies latched there under leaves.

Here, now she hovers, now in mid-air floats,

dips from the sun's gold dish a sacred fare,

then drops the bright bread to the open throats,

her song a mild and flowing sanctus* where

she magnifies the tree from leaf to root.

(Safe swings the nest, sing blessed is the fruit.)

Sister Agnes CSJ

America. May 1954

_________________________

*holy

From 'A Silence full of bells'

MAGNIFICAT

MAGNIFICAT 1

(Behold, all generations shall call me blessed.)

All generations come to her calling,

hail Mary, Holy Mary!

In the cool of the quiet morning children sing

bringing lily and lilac to her shrine on the green hill,

(their will is joyous and still under their mother's eyes

and their praise is a bird in the skies with a shrill song.)

Now in the terrible noon of insistent life

we who no longer shine with innocence

cut with a knife the tough blooms of our wayward summer

to lay before her shrine in the grey grottoes,

calling her name under the stress of sin,

hail Mary, Holy Mary, pray for us in the rough sea of our shame.

Our cries are borne to her in the storm of the elements

and in the heart's storm.

(twisted and torn in the stern tempest of love

we turn and cry to her, Hail Mary, Holy Mary!)

and the moon rises serenely above the deep wood

where we stood frightened.

She is light in the dark night, blessed among women,

fair as the moon, bright as the sun.

We have wrought her image in silver and gold,

in stone and clay, as she told Elizabeth we would,

calling her blessed through the generations.

Nations have carved her image in wood and marble

according to their vision. There is no place

where her face has not been moulded in clay or gold;

there is no day passes but thousands pray

hail Mary, Holy Mary, blessed art thou!

It is just as she said

the day she bowed her head in Elizabeth's room

when her womb rang out with the Word

bounding against the pure curve of her emptiness like a bell

giving tongue to her young blessedness.

Now we tell in our generation

what the old have told

what they will tell who come after ...

hail Mary, Holy Mary, blessed art thou!

Sister Agnes

Sign. 23 November 1948

_________________________________

1 (My soul) gives praise (to the Lord)

From 'A Silence full of bells'
With thanks to Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6em4VuYwAVs