Why I Love You, Mary!

O Mary, how fortunate I am to call you mine,

My only treasure in this changing world.

Such tenderness.. that is your name,

Your gentleness is unsurpassed.

My heart leaps up when I think of you,

And all my sorrows melt like the snow,

With filial longing I turn to you, upon your knees

I pour out cares only you would know.

A bond between us in time was forged,

Infinite source of blessings untold!

Your eyes ever watchful to snatch me from dangers,

Your ears ever careful to hear silent whispers.

Your hands ever present to touch and to comfort.

My heart so delights in contemplating you,

To know that in heaven I have a mother like you!

If they only know the love you have for men,

Like me, they too, will be proud of their claim.

When I was small I did not really know you,

To be the mother you proved yourself to be.

With great solicitude you came and searched for me,

As you did with Jesus on that three day journey.

How lucky I was that one day you found me,

That memorable July so imprinted in my memory!

Mount Carmel! Oh how I love her!

To me she embodies my Queen and my Lady.

She is forever my true destiny, the lot

God himself has marked out for me.

Deep in Carmel's bosom  will I cling,

Forever hopeful of the promise she brings.

Deep in her thickets I will not shy away,

For with the thorns lie the rose's true beauty.

Carmel! Mary! To me they are one,

And for that very reason, 

A Carmelite I am.