Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: The Feast of the Holy Innocents

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

They scarcely waked before they slept,

They scarcely wept before they laughed;
They drank indeed death's bitter draught,
But all its bitterest dregs were kept
And drained by Mothers while they wept.

From Heaven the speechless Infants speak:
Weep not (they say), our Mothers dear,
For swords nor sorrows come not here.
Now we are strong who were so weak,
And all is ours we could not seek.

We bloom among the blooming flowers,
We sing among the singing birds;
Wisdom we have who wanted words:
here morning knows not evening hours,
All's rainbow here without the showers.

And softer than our Mother's breast,
And closer than our Mother's arm,
Is here the Love that keeps us warm
And broods above our happy next.
Dear Mothers, come: for Heaven is best.

Circa 1877

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: On Christmas Day

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

A Hymn for Christmas Day
The Shepherds watch their flocks by night,
Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
All around is calm and still,
Save the murm'ring of the rill:
When lo! a form of light appears,
And on the awe-struck Shepherds' ears
Are words, of peace and comfort flowing
From lips with love celestial glowing.
Spiritual forms are breaking
Through the gloom, their voices taking
Part in the adoring song
Of the bright angelic throng.
Wondering the Shepherds bend
Their steps to Bethlehem, and wend
To a poor and crowded inn: –
Tremblingly their way they win
To the stable, where they find
The Redeemer of mankind,
Just born into this world of danger,
Lying in an humble manger.
And they spread abroad each word
Which that joyful night they'd heard,
And they glorified the name
Of their gracious God, Who came
Himself to save from endless woe
The offspring of this world below.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Fourth Sunday of Advent

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Advent!

A Christmas Carol

Before the paling of the stars,

Before the winter morn,

Before the earliest cockcrow

Jesus Christ was born:

Born in a stable,

Cradled in a manger,

In the world His Hands had made

Born a Stranger.

Priest and King lay fast asleep

In Jerusalem,

Young and old lay fast asleep

In crowded Bethlehem:

Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,

Kept a watch together,

Before the Christmas daybreak

In the winter weather.

Jesus on His Mother's breast

In the stable cold,

Spotless Lamb of God was He,

Shepherd of the Fold:

Let us kneel with Mary Maid,

With Joseph bent and hoary,

With Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,

To hail the King of Glory.

26 August 1859

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Gaudete Sunday

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Advent!

BEHOLD, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out
With lighted lamps and garlands round about
To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.

It may be at the midnight, black as pitch,
Earth shall cast up her poor, cast up her rich.

It may be at the crowing of the cock
Earth shall upheave her depth, uproot her rock.

For lo, the Bridegroom fetcheth home the Bride:
His Hands are Hands she knows, she knows His Side.

Like pure Rebekah at the appointed place,
Veiled, she unveils her face to meet His Face.

Like great Queen Esther in her triumphing,
She triumphs in the Presence of her King.

His Eyes are as a Dove's, and she's Dove-eyed;
He knows His lovely mirror, sister, Bride.

He speaks with Dove-voice of exceeding love,
And she with love-voice of an answering Dove.

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go we out
With lamps ablaze and garlands round about
To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.

Before 1886

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Second Sunday of Advent

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Advent!

This Advent moon shines cold and clear,

These Advent nights are long;

Our lamps have burned year after year

And still their flame is strong.

'Watchman, what of the night?' we cry,

Heart-sick with hope deferred:

'No speaking signs are in the sky,'

Is still the watchman's word.

The Porter watches at the gate,

The servants watch within;

The watch is long betimes and late,

The prize is slow to win.

'Watchman, what of the night?' But still

His answer sounds the same:

'No daybreak tops the utmost hill,

Nor pale our lamps of flame.'

One to another hear them speak

The patient virgins wise:

'Surely He is not far to seek' –

'All night we watch and rise.'

'The days are evil looking back,

The coming days are dim;

Yet count we not His promise slack,

But watch and wait for Him.'

One with another, soul with soul,

They kindle fire from fire:

'Friends watch us who have touched the goal.'

'They urge us, come up higher.'

'With them shall rest our waysore feet,

With them is built our home,

With Christ.' – 'They sweet, but He most sweet,

Sweeter than honeycomb.'

There no more parting, no more pain,

The distant ones brought near,

The lost so long are found again,

Long lost but longer dear:

Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,

Nor heart conceived that rest,

With them our good things long deferred,

With Jesus Christ our Best.

We weep because the night is long,

We laugh for day shall rise,

We sing a slow contented song

And knock at Paradise.

Weeping we hold Him fast Who wept

For us, we hold Him fast;

And will not let Him go except

He bless us first or last.

Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;

We will not let Him go

Till daybreak smite our wearied sight

And summer smite the snow:

Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove

Shall coo the livelong day;

Then He shall say, 'Arise, My love,

My fair one, come away.'

2 May 1858

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: First Sunday in Advent

This year I have been sharing Christina Rossetti's liturgical poetry with my children, and I'd like to share some of our favorite selections with you too.  You can read more of this series here, and more of Rossetti's poetry for Advent and Christmas here.  Wishing you a blessed Advent!

Come,' Thou dost say to Angels,

To blessed Spirits, 'Come':

'Come,' to the lambs of Thine own flock,

Thy little ones, 'Come home.'

'Come,' from the many-mansioned house

The gracious word is sent;

'Come,' from the ivory palaces

Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,

Unclose our lips though dumb:

Then say to us, 'I will come with speed,'

And we will answer, 'Come.'

12 December 1851

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Easter Day

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

EASTER DAY

Words cannot utter

Christ His returning:

Mankind, keep jubilee,

Strip off your mourning,

Crown you with garlands,

Set your lamps burning.

Speech is left speechless;

Set you to singing,

Fling your hearts open wide,

Set your bells ringing:

Christ the Chief Reaper

Comes, His sheaf bringing.

Earth wakes her song-birds,

Puts on her flowers,

Leads out her lambkins,

Builds up her bowers:

This is man's spousal day,

Christ's day and ours.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Easter Vigil

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

EASTER EVEN

The tempest over and gone, the calm begun,

Lo, "it is finished" and the Strong Man sleeps:

All stars keep vigil watching for the sun,

The moon her vigil keeps.

A garden full of silence and of dew

Beside a virgin cave and entrance stone:

Surely a garden full of Angels too,

Wondering, on watch, alone.

They who cry "Holy, Holy, Holy," still

Veiling their faces round God's Throne above,

May well keep vigil on this heavenly hill

And cry their cry of love,

Adoring God in His new mystery,

Of Love more deep than hell, more strong than death;

Until the day break and the shadows free,

The Shaking and the Breath.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Good Friday

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

GOOD FRIDAY MORN

"Bearing His Cross."

Up Thy Hill of Sorrows

Thou all alone,

Jesus, man's Redeemer,

Climbing to a Throne:

Thro' the world triumphant,

Thro' the Church in pain,

Which think to look upon Thee

No more again.

Upon my hill of sorrows

I, Lord, with Thee,

Cheered, upheld, yea, carried,

If a need should be:

Cheered, upheld, yea, carried,

Never left alone,

Carried in Thy heart of hearts

To a throne.

GOOD FRIDAY

Lord Jesus Christ, grown faint upon the Cross,

A sorrow beyond sorrow in Thy look,

The unutterable craving for my soul;

Thy love of me sufficed

To load upon Thee and make good my loss

In face of darkened heaven and earth that shook:--

In face of earth and heaven, take Thou my whole

Heart, O Lord Jesus Christ.

GOOD FRIDAY EVEN

"Bring Forth the Spear."

No Cherub's heart or hand for us might ache,

No Seraph's heart of fire had half sufficed:

Thine own were pierced and broken for our sake,

O Jesus Christ.

Therefore we love Thee with our faint good-will,

We crave to love Thee not as heretofore,

To love Thee much to love Thee and more and still,

More and yet more.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Maundy Thursday

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

MAUNDY THURSDAY

"And the Vine said ... Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?"

The great Vine left its glory to reign as Forest King.

"Nay," quoth the lofty forest trees, "we will not have this thing;

We will not have this supple one enring us with its ring.

Lo, from immemorial time our might towers shadowing:

Not we were born to curve and droop, not we to climb and cling:

We buffet back the buffeting wind, tough to its buffeting:

We screen great beasts, the wild fowl build in our heads and sing,

Every bird of every feather from off our tops takes wing:

I a king, and thou a king, and what king shall be our king?"

Nevertheless the great Vine stopped to be the Forest King,

While the forest swayed and murmured like seas that are tempesting:

Stooped and drooped with thousand tendrils in thirsty languishing;

Bowed to earth and lay on earth for earth's replenishing;

Put off sweetness, tasted bitterness, endured time's fashioning;

Put off life and put on death: and lo! it was all to bring

All its fellows down to a death which hath lost the sting,

All its fellows up to a life in endless triumphing,--

I a king, and thou a king, and this King to be our King.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Wednesday in Holy Week

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

Man's life is death.  Yet Christ endured to live,

   Preaching and teaching, toiling to and fro,

Few men accepting what He yearned to give,

   Few men with eyes to know

   His Face, that Face of Love He stopped to show.

Man's death is life.  For Christ endured to die

   In slow unuttered weariness of pain,

A curse and an astonishment, passed by,

   Pointed at, mocked again

   By men for whom He shed His Blood--in vain?

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Tuesday in Holy Week

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

By Thy long-drawn anguish to atone,

Jesus Christ, show mercy on Thine own:

Jesus Christ, show mercy and atone

Not for other sake except Thine own.

Thou Who thirsting on the Cross didst see

All mankind and all I love and me,

Still from Heaven look down in love and see

All mankind and all I love and me.

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Monday in Holy Week

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

"The Voice of my Beloved."

Once I ached for thy dear sake:

Wilt thou cause Me now to ache?

Once I bled for thee in pain:

Wilt thou rend My Heart again?

Crown of thorns and shameful tree,

Bitter death I bore for thee,

Bore My Cross to carry thee,

And wilt thou have nought of Me?

Keeping Sacred Time with Christina Rossetti :: Palm Sunday

During Holy Week, I'll be sharing a daily poem by Christina Rossetti. We often know her for her lovely poetry for children, but she wrote volumes of devotional poetry as well, including a series for the feasts and fasts of this week.  These are the poems I'll be sharing with my own children as we ready our home and our hearts and keep the Church's traditions.  Wishing you a blessed time as you prepare for Easter!

PALM SUNDAY

"He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

I lift mine eyes, and see

Thee, tender Lord, in pain upon the tree

A thirst for my sake and athirst for me.

"Yea, look upon Me there,

Compassed with thorns and bleeding everywhere,

For thy sake bearing all, and glad to bear."

I lift my heart to pray:

Thou Who didst love me all that darkened day,

Wilt Thou not love me to the end alway?

"Yea, thee My wandering sheep,

Yea thee My scarlet sinner slow to weep,

Come to Me, I will love thee and will keep."

Yet am I racked with fear:

Behold the unending outer darkness drear,

Behold the gulf unbridgeable and near!

"Nay, fix thy heart, thine eyes,

Thy hope upon My boundless sacrifice:

Will I lose lightly one so dear-bought prize?"

Ah, Lord; it is not Thou,

Thou that wilt fail; yet woe is me, for how

Shall I endure who half am failing now?

"Nay, weld thy resolute will

To Mine: glance not aside for good or ill:

I love thee; trust Me still and love Me still."

Yet Thou Thyself hast said,

When Thou shalt sift the living from the dead

Some must depart shamed and uncomforted.

"Judge not before that day:

Trust Me with all thy heart, even tho' I slay:

Trust Me in love, trust on, love on, and pray."