Catholic Poetry

Catholic Poetry August 4, 2012

THE TRANSFIGURATION

And they lifting up their eyes saw no one but only Jesus (St. Matt. xvii 8)

No one but Jesus but our blest Redeemer,

No one but Jesus our most blessed Lord,

No one but Jesus Christ the Son of justice,

Jesus the Son of God the Christ the Word.

Oh what was earth to them and all its beauties,

The creatures of His hand and of His will,

For they saw Jesus in the light of heaven,

There on that beauteous Galilean hill.

They lifting up their eyes saw only Jesus, His face divine so human and so fair,

They saw those eyes so lit with love and mercy.

Saw heaven’s own sunbeams gild His radiant hair,

They saw Him on Mount Thabor in His glory,

White wondrous angels bent from heaven in awe,

While James and John and Peter looking upward,

Knew twas their Saviour and their God they saw.

Knew Him thus all transfigured and adored Him

While Peter cried from his ecstatic heart

“Oh let us be here always, for ’tis heaven, ’tis heaven, Lord Jesus, whereso’er Thou art”

They saw Thee Jesus, and they heard Thee speaking Of Calvary, of suffering and of shame,

While Moses and Elias bent adoring, as near Thee in the radiant cloud they came.

Oh, shall we see Thee in the bliss of heaven? Shall we Thy consecrated children kneel

On heaven’s golden floor to kiss Thy footprints

And heaven’s dear joy in these poor bosoms feel?

The Sisters of Mercy, St. Catharine’s Convent, New York City, Poems for Catholics & Convents, Plays for Catholic Schools (Westchester, N.Y: New York Catholic Protectory, 1874), 115-116. 


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