You Have Given Life
Thomas DeFreitas
The glory-braided maiden
We call Genetrix of grace, Mother of the Church,
Queen of all creation.
A countenance of luminous darkness
Receives the veneration of the moon:
Snow-capped mountains and the roots of rivers,
Cedars of Lebanon, pine trees of the northland,
Rest protected from all ill and evil
Beneath her heaven-woven mantle.
Wounded for a time, henceforth triumphant,
The tender-handed heart which cradled the dead Christ
Sends forth the light of hope
To the double-minded earth, to the five-fingered stars.
Sunlight and womanhood, wisdom, humility,
Harmonize, conspire, breathe together
To magnify the Lord:
Confounded are the hearts of all the proud.
Silent expectation
As the cold world waits its rescue and redemption:
For she is a vapour of the power of God
And a certain pure emanation
Of the glory of the all-mighty God.
She reneweth all things
And through nations conveyeth herself
Unto holy souls.
For she is more beautiful than the sun,
And above all the order of the stars.
You have given life to the One
Whose death and rising from the dead
Gives life to a fallen world: therefore, we praise you,
With angels, saints, and holy ones
Unto the ages of ages.