Author: householdoftheholyfamily

Our Mother’s Dawn

As Mother of our new life’s dawn,
     Come, roll our dark away;
Your “yes” says to our fear, “Begone,”
     For your Son brings the day—

Through you the Holy Spirit blows
     And ignorance dispels;
His wisdom shines through you to show
     He’s broken Satan’s spell—

For your Son’s “yes” in Garden here
     Was given back to you
In offer made for you to bear
     Himself and all us too—

Now you’re the Mother of all life
     That through Him now is born,
As in your “yes” shines His new light
    From Resurrection Morn! 

Gospel Feast

What is this fruit that I now eat?
     It looks like bread and wine,
Yet I know it’s God’s Son who greets
     Me in this heart of mine.

I eat His Body, drink His Blood;
     He enters, makes me new,
And I emerge from Satan’s flood,
     In world His truth to view.

Apparent weakness in His death
     Concealed His Father’s strength;
It’s manifest in Spirit’s breath–
     For us goes any length.

He dies to rise and give us life
     Beyond our human grave.
His Blood and Body bring His light
     To His creation save.

For here and now we live again
     And leave our past behind;
We’re free from death caused by our sin
     As new life here we find.

And with new life His wisdom comes
     To greatest and to least;
For wise in Him we all become
     When we eat Gospel Feast. 

Give Thanks to Mary

O Mary, I give thanks to thee,
     A second to your Son,
As your assumed humanity
    Stands next to Three-in-One.

Thank you for your own human choice–
     Welcomed Emmanuel;
You spoke those words in human voice,
    And heaven to earth fell.

Thank you for gentle mother’s lap–
     Held God in human love—
A lap in which was closed the gap
     ‘Tween earth and heav’n above.

To garden does your own word come—
     Finds echo in your Son:
“The Handmaid of the Lord” becomes
     “Not mine but thine be done.”

I thank you for your open arms
     For John at Jesus’ feet;
You offer all a mother’s charms
     As ‘round Christ’s throne we meet.

Strength in Weakness

Our weakness opens us to strength
That only Jesus can provide,
As He for us goes any length
To give new life for which He died.

His death gives us His life anew
When Resurrection enters us;
Through weakness we His strength can view
In every heart who in Him trusts.

His mercy comes through every thorn
That aggravates our mortal flesh,
For through it we can be re-born
As He with us His life will mesh.

In that new life we future taste
As we are drawn outside ourselves;
Our suffering He won’t let be waste
For through it comes His heaven’s health. 

Cleansing Water

See Jesus take Elijah’s cloak
And for us Jordan’s waters part
As He by John with water soaked
And He to us Himself imparts.

Dry shod we can through life now walk,
For mud of sin no longer clings;
With Father’s voice He to us talks
As angels of His glory sing.

And if we step aside and sin,
His water will continue cleanse
As pure He washes us again
With Spirit in His water sends.

When we arise from earthly fount
With Jordan’s waters left behind,
We’ll find ourselves on heaven’s mount—
At Jesus’ table we will dine.

His Calloused, Nail-scarred Hands

The nail-scared hands of his adopted Son
Were calloused from the world of work and sweat
Where He had learned to be His Father’s man
In wondrous world where love and work had met.

And now where He is raised at Father’s side
He welcomes Joseph–taught Him how to be
A human man who for His family dies
And lives with Him to set all families free.

From Joseph’s labors we see now his fruit
That’s grown for us upon new Tree of Life–
Becomes for us a new life-giving root
That brings to Garden’s darkness His dawn’s light.

Within His human nature Joseph see
As with Him new creation comes to be. 

IN HONOR OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER’S DAY

The Glory of the Lord

The glory of the Lord is seen
In Jesus risen from the dead,
Salvation for what’s always been
His good creation to Him wed.

For spotless was creation made—
A Bride for Father through His Son—
Without our sin to cast a shade
On what Our Father had begun.

But we surrendered to the lie
Of him who had before rebelled,
Then for our sin we all must die
For cast on world was Devil’s spell.

But Devil through us can’t destroy
The goodness in creation made,
And Son comes in us to employ
Our flesh to vanquish sinful shade.

He dies and rises from the grave
In fleshly Body glorified
And with Him all creation raise
As through His death our sin has died.

Now Jesus’ glory will be seen
In all surrender to His will,
And glory’s good that’s always been
Our sin and Devil cannot kill. 

One of a Kind

Who is this person I’ve become,
As One I cleave to lives in me?
I opened heart, and He has come
From sin and death to set me free.

My hope of glory is in Him
Who dies in me to live again,
As I become His Bethlehem
From Mary born and free from sin.

Then from His Cross I’m taken down
And placed with Him in garden tomb—
With Him await His glorious crown
As our grave is as Mary’s womb.

In me He’s born again to live
His life in me, one of a kind,
And He through me uniquely gives
To world His gifts of heart and mind. 

Hallowed Is the First Day

Your work is done on this the seventh day,
And You now rest (as You Three rested then)
In death, where even now You’ll have Your way
And will awake with us now freed from sin.

The first day of the week will hallowed be,
For on that day You’ll rise beyond the grave,
And we a new creation then can see–
A world again becomes Your Church’s nave.

On earth on holy altar You will come
From cross raised only once but for all time,
Where bread and wine Your Body, Blood become
To create family in New Adam’s line. 

When Sunday dawns and You awake from sleep,
You’ll hold us all forever in Your keep.  

Light in the Storm

Whenever storms of life do come,
The Lord in storm’s cloud is concealed
To teach me truth that joins the sum
Of all He has to me revealed.

He shows me one more foreign god
That’s wormed its way into my life,
Now is cast down beneath the sod
To Hell’s dark death where there’s no light.

No alien will in me now live
For I am to be His alone,
And He to me Himself now gives:
Once more I know my sin’s atoned.

My heart is now made soft for Him–
In me subdues my every foe;
His light in me, no longer dim,
Shines through me to the world His glow.