Household Cares

Holy Family Chapel, Westminster Cathedral, London, January 2017

O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy wondrous holiness didst adorn a human home, and by thy subjection to Mary and Joseph didst consecrate the order of earthly families: grant that we, being enlightened by the example of their life with thee in thy Holy Family, and assisted by their prayers, may at last be joined with them in thine eternal fellowship; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.

Bow down, ye angel hierarchies,
And see, how human charities
Diviner bonds on earth can tie,
Than those which your bright ranks ally.
 
Ye, whose immortal being’s flame
Full-kindled from the Eternal came,
Behold, the world’s Creator rest --
A Babe upon a Mother’s breast.
 
And while your eyes enraptured see
The Equal, Undivided Three,
Learn from that vision to admire
God subject to an earthly sire.
 
Ye know no parents, child, nor bride;
No homes your love with God divide;
Yet, angel-lips may humbly bless
This Virgin-Mother’s fruitfulness:

And angel-hearts may glow with pride
To minister at Joseph’s side,
Who knows no earthly cares but these --
God’s Mother and her Son to please.
 
Now heaven and earth are reconciled
Around the crib of Mary’s Child;
And flesh and blood shall emulate
The glories of the angelic state:
 
While those whom marriage-bonds unite
The Virgin-spouses shall invite,
To win from Jesus by their prayers,
A blessing on their household cares.

Thomas Edward Bridgett C.SS.R., 1829-1899