On MONDAY we
remember all the angels of the Lord,
Gabriel the
messenger, and Michael with his sword,
Thrones and
powers and dominations, six-winged Seraphim;
Holy! Holy!
Holy! Yes, thrice-holy is their
hymn.
Michael the
archangel kept the door of Paradise,
He leads the
heavenly armies, and opposes wicked vice
He is the
guardian angel of all faithful Christian folk,
Destroying evil
demons, for invincible’s his stroke.
Gabriel the
messenger flew down from Heaven on high
When man’s
salvation by the Son of God was drawing nigh,
He found the
Virgin Mary, and he told her of the plan
That she would
help to realize, when God became as man.
How many times
this angel has come down to us on earth,
He came to
Zacharias and announced the Baptist’s birth,
He travelled
with the Kings who’d come from very far away,
To worship and
adore the Saviour, born on Christmas Day.
On TUESDAY we
remember John, forerunner of the Lord.
Ascetic, very
humble, he was greatly over-awed
When Jesus came
to tell him that He wished to be baptized;
This holy man
obeyed, but was astonished and surprised.
‘See, the Lamb
of God, who comes to wash away our sin!’
The prophet
said to Andrew, ‘You must go and follow Him.’
Jesus then
called Philip, who went to tell Nathanael,
Who said, ‘This
is the Son of God and King of Israel.’
Near the River
Jordan when he’d just baptized the Lord,
Because of his
obedience, John received a great reward.
He saw the Holy
Trinity, the blessed Three-in-One,
The Father, Son
and Spirit, the eternal Triple Sun.
This greatest
of the prophets says to all of us today,
‘Repent and
follow Jesus, for it’s He who is the Way!’
He raised his
hand and touched the Son of God come from above,
He heard the
Father speak, he saw the Spirit as a dove.
WEDNESDAY we consider
as the middle of the week,
Come and see
the Virgin Mother, humble, mild and meek,
Standing with
the other virgin, weeping bitter tears,
As the sound of
hammers strike her pure maternal ears.
As the second
Eve, she stood before another tree,
And looked upon
the fruit that hung thereon for you and me;
She wept to see
how wicked men ignored that God is Love,
And for their
salvation, had come down from Heaven above.
She remembered
then the words that Simeon had said;
A sword indeed
had pierced her soul, when Life she saw as dead.
She took Him
from the Cross, and then she laid Him in a tomb,
Fertile as had
been her pure and ever-virgin womb.
She saw the day
become as night, the rocks that trembled too,
As her Son and
God then opened Paradise anew,
His Cross was
standing upright in the middle of the earth,
For this hour
it was indeed, that she had given birth.
On THURSDAY we
remember the Apostles of the Lord,
And with them
Bishop Nicolas, so easily implored;
They travelled
far, and suffered much, to teach and to install
The Holy Church
which is, today, the mother of us all.
Peter, James
and John, with Thomas and Bartholomew,
Philip, Luke
and Matthew, Mark, Matthias and Andrew,
And with them
we remember, too, the great Apostle Paul –
Jesus Christ,
the risen Lord, was wisely taught by all.
At the Holy
Liturgy are mentioned all the Saints,
Yet somehow,
with Saint Nicolas, one easily acquaints;
He comes to
help so quickly, and he saves so many lives,
One hardly has
the time to call his name, and he arrives!
From Heaven,
this holy company looks down upon the Church,
Encouraging
theology, and spiritual research.
On all these
great Apostles was the Spirit of the Lord,
To live with
Him in Paradise—their well-deserved reward!
On FRIDAY we
remember Jesus Christ was crucified—
To save us all
from death, upon the Tree of Life He died.
This precious Wood
discovered by a very pious queen,
From the town
of Colchester, where maybe you have been.
Many are the
relics of this very sacred Tree,
Which the Lord
of Glory used to save both you and me,
With this sign
we bless ourselves; yes, blessings now abound,
Wherever Jesus’
Cross—His sign of victory—may be found.
O Tree of
Life! O Tree of Love! O Tree of Sacrifice!
The wood which
made the Cross is now the door to Paradise,
For you
revealed theology, and showed that GOD IS LOVE,
When Jesus on
your branches, was then lifted up above.
I will follow
Jesus, with my cross upon my back;
I pray to have
humility, then I will never lack
The patience
that is necessary, if I want to be
Crucified with
Jesus, and be nailed upon a tree.
On SATURDAY we
pray for all those who’ve gone before,
And sailed
across the ocean, and have reached the other shore.
Jesus knows
this place, and so He went there to prepare
Eternal joy in
Paradise, that all may come and share.
The Son of God
Himself reposed upon this sacred day,
No longer in
the manger, in a sepulcher He lay,
Resting from
his work accomplished perfectly on earth,
Hidden like a
jewel of inestimable worth.
We pray that
God remember those that we commemorate.
The godly souls
of all who resurrection now await.
They loved Him
and they served Him, and they offered Him their life,
Hierarchs,
priests or monks, or those who lived as man and wife.
To pray is to
remember, to remember is to love,
And love unites
us here below, with those who are above.
O Jesus Christ,
may every soul for-ever find in Thee
A harbor,
having crossed the waves of life’s tempestuous sea.
On SUNDAY, in
the morning, when the sun began to rise,
The holy women,
bearing myrrh, were taken by surprise,
They found the
tomb was empty, and they heard an angel’s voice;
They came to
weep, but they returned for-ever to rejoice.
They saw the
holy angel who was sitting on the stone
Which had
sealed the sepulcher—he used it as a throne.
Dressed in
light, he turned to them and this is what he said,
‘Christ is risen! Do not seek the living with the dead.’
But Mary Magdalena
could in no way be consoled,
Despite the
angel’s presence, and the news she had been told,
As she wept,
she saw a man was standing very near,
She thought He
was the gardener, for so He did appear…
‘Tell me, was
it you who came and took my Lord this night?’
‘Mary,’ said
the gardener, and great was her delight,
For when she
heard that voice she knew for certain it was He,
Who, risen from
the dead, would live and reign eternally.
Before we end
this lesson, which I hope you’ve understood,
I believe it is
important that we live as Christians should,
God would like
us all to be His children, loving, true;
Less important
what we know, than what in fact we do.
On MONDAY, like
the angels, we shall offer hymns of praise,
On TUESDAY we
shall try to mend and straighten out our ways,
On WEDNESDAY,
with the Virgin, we shall stand at Calvary,
On THURSDAY as
Apostles and disciples we shall be.
On FRIDAY we’ll
be crucified with Jesus Christ our King,
On SATURDAY we
know that death no longer has its sting,
On SUNDAY, when
we wake from sleep, immediately we say:
‘CHRIST IS
RISEN! Let us all rejoice upon this day!’
