Saturday - Day of Our Lady

The last part of St Therese poem 'Why I love you, O Mary!

Mary, at the top of Calvary standing beside the Cross
To me you seem like a priest at the altar,



Offering your beloved Jesus, the sweet Emmanuel,
To appease the Father's justice....
A prophet said, O afflicted Mother,
"There is no sorrow like your sorrow!"
O Queen of Martyrs, while remaining in exile
You lavish on us all the blood of your heart!

Saint John's home becomes your only refuge.
Zebedee's son is to replace Jesus...
that is the last detail the Gospel gives.
It tells me nothing more of the Queen of Heaven.
But, O my dear Mother, doesn't its profound silence
reveal that The Eternal Word Himself
Wants to sing the secrets of your life
To charm your children, all the Elect of heaven?

Soon I'll hear that sweet harmony.
Soon I'll go to beatifull Heaven to see you.
You who came to smile at me in the morning of my life,
Come smile at me again...Mother...It's evening now!...
I no longer fear the splendor of your supreme glory.

With you I've suffered, and now I want
To sing on your lap, Mary, why I love you.
And to go on saying that I am your child!...

from 'Poetry of St Therese of Lisieux'