Redirect:

Roman Catholic Sacred Music
The text is extracted (and adapted) from a work by St. Mary of Agreda's 'Mystical City of God'.

The setting is this:

The Blessed Virgin Mary is in the Cenacle with the disciples and other holy women. John returns with reports of how Jesus is truly suffering and how he is very disfigured. He was trying to impress upon her that she should perhaps best not go out because the sight is so terrible. Mary breaks out in the bitterest of tears of heart-rending sorrow. Then here is how the passage in the script then proceeds:

"The Queen of heaven asked the Apostle to accompany Her and the devout women, and, exhorting them all, She said: "Let us hasten our steps, in order that my eyes may see the Son of the eternal Father, who took human form in my womb; and you shall see, my dearest friends, to what the love of mankind has driven Him, my Lord and God, and what it costs Him to redeem men from sin and death, and to open for them the gates of heaven."

Of course, I could have set the text verbatim, but it would have been a bit odd to have Mary speaking in the first person, so I adjusted the text as little as possible to reflect this sentiment as best as possible. I altered the first person singular pronouns to third person plural; ('my' to 'our') and then 'my womb' to 'Mary's womb'. I took liberty to enter my own reflections, "He is God-With-Us through Mary" and "Heaven is Open for Us".

So the final text thus becomes:

Let us hasten our steps
In order that our eyes may see
The Son of the Eternal Father.
Who took human form in Mary's womb.
He is God-With-Us through Mary.

And you shall see, his dearest friends,
To what the love of mankind has driven him,
Our Lord, and God,
And what it costs Him to redeem us
From sin and death.
And to open for us the gates of heaven.

Heaven is Open For Us.
(and then a final play on the words to make a plea)
Open the gates of heaven for us.