It Was the World

San Giocomo Church, Udine

I stopped on a whim at the church.
(Or did my Grandma wish me there)
When women filled the pews around me
I was surprised to be attending.
a recitation of the Rosary,
in Italian, of the “Sorrowful Mysteries.”

I can’t fathom now, how the child I was,
could have learned, by rote, such horrors
as The Agony in the Garden,
The Scourging at the Pillar,
The Crowning with Thorns,
The Carrying of the Cross,
and the Crucifixion and Death,
But when the women’s recitation named them
I found the “Mysteries”on their memory bench
pristine in a corner of my mind.

Yet soon the Ave Maria repetitions
lulled me, and the echoing voices
seemed to make a kind of wave.
and I went floating on the megahertz of prayer.
The women’s voices beseeching the Mother.
had prayed so in my Grandma’s time and mine,
The curtain of time turned to gauze
and my Grandma knelt beside me.
I floated on the wave of oneness
where separations ceased to matter.

When the Rosary was finished,
I stood with the others,
to sing a printed Litany  in unison.
And singing with the women
sank me deeper in my trance,
and I knew then, it was the world,
it was the world
all of us in time,
were praying for.

Mother of divine grace,
pray for us.
Mother most amiable,
pray for us.
Mother most admirable,
pray for us.
Mother of good counsel,
pray for us.
Virgin most powerful,
pray for us.
Virgin most merciful,
pray for us.
Mirror of justice,
pray for us.
Seat of wisdom,
pray for us.
Cause of our joy,
pray for us.
Spiritual vessel,
pray for us.
Vessel of honor,
pray for us.
Singular vessel of devotion,
pray for us.
Mystical rose,
pray for us.
Gate of Heaven,
pray for us.
Morning star,
pray for us.
Health of the sick,
pray for us.
Refuge of sinners,
pray for us.
Comforter of the afflicted,
pray for us.
Queen of angels,
pray for us.
Queen of virgins,
pray for us.
Queen of all saints,
pray for us.
Queen of peace,
pray for us.

©Susa Silvermarie 2019