Sweet Santa Maria,
Sweetest Queen of All Hearts,
How blessed are we who treasure
Your humble holy heart.
Through you, we can allow
God's grace to sublimely soak into our souls,
So that we can be refreshed as if by
Cool cascades of pure pristine water.
Blessed are you among the peoples
Of the world; by following your
Simple example, fresh fruit will
Richly ripen on our trees.
God's magnificent mercy and
Grace flow through you;
Lovely Madonnina,
Please pray for us.
She gently rocks me,
back and forth,
in her slender arms,
since I’m a little babe
who can’t find Jesus
alone, without her;
she lovingly caresses
and warms me in the
cold dark night,
and her smiling eyes
twinkle in the Light;
her soft rosy lips
sweetly kiss me
as she leads me
faithfully and joyfully
to her merciful Son,
the Bread of Life.
Almost all
Had abandoned
My sweet Son
As He hung on
The cross,
But during His
Sorrowful Passion,
I was with Him,
To the end.
Dearest one,
When you feel
Lost, hanging on
Your little crosses,
Have no fear,
For I am there,
I am always with you,
Always, always,
To the end.
My guardian angel takes me by the
Hand and leads me up into the
Celestial blue sky of my imagination…
I hear the dulcet voice of Our Lady
Reading me the Scriptures of the day,
And the Word comes alive for me
As the magnificence and beauty
Of Divine Wisdom refreshes my
Soul -- then my sweet Mother takes me
By the hand, and we spiral upwards,
Listening to the very same Word --
But now from a Trinitarian perspective:
I hear the gentle thunder of the
Heavenly Father’s voice give me
Renewed strength and courage,
I hear the Divine Dove’s voice which
Breathes new life into my spirit and
Gives me holy zeal for the mission,
I hear the Good Shepherd’s humble
Soothing voice, and the Son Light
Shines in mystical brilliance in my
Happy heart as He teaches me how
To find the Way to the Truth in the Life.
She climbed aboard the world’s carousel,
Cuz everyone said it was cool;
She then speedily spun around and around,
But she really just played the fool.
Before she knew what true love was,
She thought she had found the one;
So she fell -- in love -- and broke her heart,
Cuz all she really wanted was fun.
You patiently dressed her painful wounds,
Pouring New Wine into her heart;
Then you gently kissed her sobbing soul,
Making whole what was ripped apart.
St. Louis de Montfort showed her a shortcut
That ever so quickly led to your Son;
Only then did she finally learn about love,
Only then did she discover The One.
When I squeezed the rosary with my
Tense fingers, my soul was bone dry;
I prayed too fast, as if trying to speed
Through Death Valley at high noon.
I pitched my prayers with fear, and they
Wildly eluded the spiritual strike zone;
It was as though they were frantically
Fired from a rickety machine gun.
Then you taught me how to pray, Madonnina,
More slowly, and more meaningfully;
I peacefully sprinkled the rosary throughout
The morning, watering my soul’s garden.
I threw sizzling strikes with love, which you
Crisply caught and brought to Jesus;
As God’s holy warrior, Padre Pio spoke the
Truth: “Lord, give me my weapon.”
The poetic corner of the public square
Has grown exceedingly dark and dreary,
And the fetid fog of moral relativism
Has made this place rather eerie,
The dingy marketplace of worldly poetry
Weighs us down and makes us weary.
But Our Lady ignites her little candle,
To make bright this deep dark night,
At last, beautiful sweet poetry comes to us,
That is right in God’s glorious sight,
The candle’s flame is a spearing sword,
Ready to fight for the one true Light.
I very slowly awaken,
Still groggy from sleep,
And I feel the black enemy
Wielding his cutlass of terror,
A weapon of worry and woe,
Ready to strike me down,
But before he reaches me,
I look to wise St. Joseph,
Who gives me Our Lady’s lasso,
The Most Holy Rosary
Of the Morning Star,
A superior weapon for
Engaging in spiritual combat:
I pray it slowly, and meaningfully,
Praying a delicious decade
Each hour throughout the morning,
Meditating on the holy mysteries,
Relishing the sweet taste of Love,
Allowing Our Lady to scatter
God’s blessings like holy seeds
Wherever she wills, for she knows
Much better than I do how to please
The Lord of Divine Mercy;
But when the enemy sneaks up
And tries to mortally wound me,
I immediately grab my weapon,
And I squeeze the strong little beads
Like a Jedi does a light saber,
And my sincere, intense prayers,
Like an angel’s trumpet blast,
Reach the ears of Almighty God,
Who with legions of angels
Comes to rescue and save me.
The Virgin moon
shines in splendor
in the dark night,
but in humility she
recognizes that the true
glory really belongs to her
Sun, whose Divine Mercy
rays of red and white
shine in dazzling brilliance
through all eternity.
O heavenly Star,
I am living in the dark night
Of unknowing,
Searching for peace in uncertainty.
O Lighthouse in the sky,
I am living in the dark night
Of the unseen,
Trying to die slowly to myself.
With your beacon of light,
Like a laser sword from Heaven,
You strike and slay
All my enemies.
I rejoice in the source
Of your powerful light,
Christ the Courageous,
Your only Sun.
As I awaken in the
Dark Night,
The swirling, twirling
Tempest of menacing fear
Violently threatens to
Throttle me.
But brimming with
The Messiah’s magnificent mercy,
Our Lady appears and
Gazes at me with a
Sweet, serene smile
And sparkling aquamarine eyes;
Then, with her soft, rosy lips,
She wonderfully warms my cheek
With a pure, gentle, loving
Kiss.
Suddenly the surging
Tornado of terror
Silently ceases as
The Spirit
Blows in the breeze
And soars through
My soul.
In the old mission church,
We, faithful pilgrims, are
Packed together tightly
Much like votive candles,
Our weary wicks waiting
To be lit by Our Lady,
With the fire of the Spirit;
It wasn’t the real tilma,
Yet the good God has
No limits whatsoever, so
After mass, I approached,
Not expecting anything —
But when I touched her,
Love’s flame filled me,
And the Divine Mercy
Warmly embraced me.
She is the Star of Bethlehem.
The compassionate Lady of Love,
The powerful Virgin of Victory,
The sweet Mother of the Messiah,
Silent and holy, calm and bright,
Her dazzling beauty shines in
The dark night of unknowing,
And she points the way for the
Wise men and wise women
Of this world who wish to know
The Babe of Divine Mercy.
Whispered sweetly, Maria’s
“Yes” ripples and reverberates
Through the Halls of Heaven,
And the Spirit speeds through the
Atmosphere in a powerful pulse
Of gleaming, virginal white light
Into the humble House of Gold:
And, behold, The Divine Mercy is
Incarnate.
During the deep dark night,
I open the eyes of my soul,
and I see her before me,
glittering in glorious brilliance.
She smiles at me, softly, gently,
and reminds me that she rejoices
greatly when I meditate on the
Holy Passion of her sweet Son.
I listen to the magnificent music
of her most wonderful words,
and Light shines in the darkness,
burning away the folly of fear.
The long, arduous journey
was finally over,
More challenging than going
from London to Dover;
Clarissa Candela opened
her deep, dark eyes,
She got out of bed not
expecting any surprise;
For the last 33 days it’s been
a time for new prayers,
Almost like climbing a beautiful
resort’s elegant stairs;
Going upward towards God
in an imperceptible way,
She didn’t notice any spiritual growth
when she knelt down to pray.
As the beacon of dawn
gradually conquered the night,
The sinful, fearful darkness
was very quickly put to flight;
The angels unfurled the banner
of God’s light across the sky,
As on the freeway Clarissa
calmly drove in the desert so dry;
Her pilgrimage was to the beauteous
chapel of Our Lady of Solitude,
And since she could see the cupola,
her arrival was a certitude;
With holy sunbeams striking a
stained glass window from afar,
The chapel looked like a lighthouse
reflecting Bethlehem’s star.
Clarissa got out of her car, and a
sweet smile danced across her lips,
Her long, dark hair through the comforting
breeze ever so gently whips;
Looking at the chapel, she saw arches
and columns in a style European,
The dappled desert stone, rustically
elegant, made it look Galilean;
The cupola, topped with a simple cross,
was Our Lady’s jeweled crown,
And the t-shaped tau on the gable
declared good St. Francis’ renown;
Clarissa looked up, twirled around,
and saw an immense sky so blue,
She had never seen such beauty clothed
in such peace, ‘tis so very true.
Then she entered the chapel
experiencing a spiritual thirst,
Truly there were not many people
at mass on this January First;
Their few voices were humbly and
quietly raised almost inaudibly aloft,
And the Franciscan priest said mass
in a voice that was very, very soft;
The devout Poor Clare nuns were
all engaged in the deepest prayer,
And, honestly, the mass was so silent
that it was exceedingly rare;
When Clarissa’s 33-day prayers of
consecration were finally done,
Might she be in danger of ending
as uneventfully as she had begun?
But St. Louis de Montfort’s
Consecration to Jesus through Mary,
Was recommended by her wise old
Irish pastor Monsignor O’Clary;
He had preached quite a fine homily
about this special devotion,
Saying, “It can really change your life,
if you have the notion”;
But now let me share with you
one rather noteworthy fact,
St. Louis’ closing prayer is
really a form of holy contract;
She knelt before Our Lord’s
beautiful crucifix near the altar,
And she dearly hoped that her
heart would not ever falter.
Midway through this closing prayer,
Clarissa’s heart was passionately,
Preciously pierced by the sweet sword
of the Spirit; her soul, suddenly
Brimming with God’s majestic mercy,
soared in a spiraling celestial
Crescendo of God’s love for her;
fearing that her heart, like a fiery
Supernova, might explode with emotion,
she silently slipped out
And sat quietly, alone, on the sofa
in the pilgrims' guest room;
Here she serenely surrendered all
to the Spirit, like a noble
Knight of Christ, Through Our Lady,
The Queen of All Hearts.
Then like a giddy geyser she gushed
torrents of light-hearted laughter
And happy, heavenly tears; this golden
cascade of pure love poured
Over her soul like a warm, wonderful
waterfall of holy honey; deep down
Inside, the Spirit was strumming on
the harmonic harp of her heart, and
She was deliciously, delightfully deluged
by this overwhelming ocean of God’s love for her.
Afterwards, Clarissa softly strolled
back into the chapel to finish her
Closing prayer; approaching the altar,
with awe, she beheld the crucifix
Where Christ the Courageous heroically
hangs; from the back of the church
She felt his love as a light, blissful,
balmy breeze; but as she
Drew closer to that crucifix, she felt
His love magnificently magnified as it
Ignited into an intense, surging storm
of explosive, electric joy;
Kneeling before that same crucifix,
as a bold, brave warrior, she battled
Through her emotions until
word by word, slowly,
Meaningfully, she finished
her prayer of consecration.
Every year for the rest of her life
this holy devotion she would pray,
She would always return to Our Lady
of Solitude on the very same day;
Just as Our Lady had very few truly
remarkable days in her saintly life,
Clarissa had few days in which intense
joy pierced her soul like a knife;
Although she never again experienced
a cascading heavenly waterfall,
Every so often a raindrop of pure,
holy love her heart would enthrall;
In the twinkling of an eye the sword
of the Spirit would pierce her soul,
As if to remind her that perfect love
in Heaven must always be her goal.
As I gently finger the beads of the rosary,
I touch your warm soft hands,
I gaze into your merciful, majestic eyes,
And I contemplate your loveliness;
Together our precious prayers mingle,
And rise up like sweet incense,
Its scent perfumes the halls of Heaven,
And delights the Lord of Light.
Trembling, I hid in your mantle, protected
From the dark night of unknowing;
You guided me up the steep, perilous path,
Towards the sparkling, starry heavens.
The demonic winds gusted, and with
Frightful ferocity thunder shook the air;
Serpentine lightning darted in the sky, and
Lava streams slithered down the slopes.
But then the Sun of God dazzlingly dawned,
And He put an end to the dark night;
Beams of bright light, both red and white,
Streamed soothingly into my soul.
Atop the summit, you took my hand,
And together we flew into the Light;
We laughed like merry little children,
Soaking in the sunshine of pure Mercy.
Guardian Angel, please pray for us,
Because the devil tempts us to obsess,
We must evade the evil of worldly idols,
And not dream of what to possess;
Thirsting for things can thicken anxiety,
Which can seem to never cease,
We struggle and tuggle with all our might,
And banished is all our peace.
The diabolical dragon swoops down,
Determined all good to destroy,
With the flaming fire of enslaving greed,
He seeks to kill all devotion and joy;
But as our trustworthy guide from Heaven,
With love you sing a sweet prayer,
And your words rise like a happy dove
Higher and higher up into the air.
Your shining shield of protection
Guards us from the devil’s snare,
You deflect the dragon’s temptation,
And it evaporates into the air;
Gratitude is like a stream of living water,
Delightfully refreshing us during the day,
It brings joy to the heart and revives us,
While washing temptation away.
But when the evil one’s persuasive poison
Threatens to seep deep into our heart,
Teach us to think of the Lord Jesus crucified,
So that it pierces our soul like a dart;
When we dance with delight with temptation,
Help us the crucifix recall,
For the cross crushes the devil’s teeth,
And into hellish Styx he will fall.
Meditating on the gore of Golgotha,
Our hearts like tearful candles melt,
Knife-like nails puncture his palms,
And blood trickles to where Our Lady knelt;
Then our foolish obsessions are obliterated,
By the power of His holy love,
And we are magnificently made new,
By His grace flowing from above.
Trying to lure us into obsession,
The devil deceptively dangles his bait,
But seeing you push us out of harm’s way
Only fuels his mad fury and hate;
We escape the avalanche of avarice,
That crushes the soul like snow,
You lead us on a path filled with Light,
And our life in the Spirit does grow.
You are the great warrior angel,
Ready for the spiritual battle,
Always sober, vigilant, and alert,
You wait and watch for the enemy;
Then in the midst of black terror,
You slay the red dragon of fear,
Brandishing the sword of the Spirit,
The glorious golden sword of Love;
Teach us to become brave soldiers,
Soldiers of Jesus Christ the Lord,
Nourished by the holy Bread of Life,
Refreshed by His sweet new wine.