Teach me Joy

"Whoever shall devoutly recall to me the joy I felt upon uttering the words, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord,' I will most truly show him that I am his mother, and unfailingly I will succor him." - The Blessed Mother to St. Gertrude

O blessed Mary, my mother, Queen of Joy,

As I finger each stone polished smooth, I offer you 

my heart, my soul.

You invite me

to enter your own.

Here you teach me joy.

There is suffering in the joy.

An annunciation and an ardent yes,

life-changing for you, for all of us.
Your soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
 knows, too, of the coming travail.

In Joy

you withdraw, along parched road to bring comfort to your kinswoman,
honored to serve and to love.
Joy bounds in belly swollen as her babe leaps
in recognition of the Emmanuel warming your own.

God's own son, Emmanuel

Your own, too, God-with-us,

welcomed to earth by sleepy-eyed bovine and bleating fleece.

O the Joy that awakens an unconscious and wounded world!

And they come hither and yon to see for themselves,

to savor the Glory and share this Joy.

O, my Queen , you are also our Mother of Sorrows

Was Joy extinguished by the way of His cross,

as you carried that weight with each beat of your heart

pierced at the sight of His body all bloodied and scourged?

Did it find you, still, amid the Passion,

bearing you,

allowing your eyes to kiss 

His face swollen and bruised?

Did Joy take wing, sweet sorrowing Mother,

as your lips met His sacred feet bolted fast to splintering wood?

Dearest Mother, 

you knew in your sorrowing heart,

in the depths of your magnifying soul, of the Joy abandonment brings.

His own abandonment at Golgotha found you steadfast

in the sweet, soothing rhythms of love caressing Him 

 as Mercy rained down upon the earth

drenching mankind in a promise 

and 

Hope

You are our Queen of Joy

because He is Risen,

He has trampled death.

Because He promises us all a share in 

His Resurrection.

And so, the hope of our faith is realized

and I, too, rejoice.

I, too, rejoice

even when worry lays heavy and 

words sear.

Joy in the face of rejection and loss

and disappointment.

It exists in the abandonment,

In the eternal, forever 

abandonment.

Blessed Mary, Mother of Sorrows, Queen of Rejoicing

continue to teach me to live

Joy.