Rorate Caeli

On the Vigil of the Ascension:
Never is our love so pure as when refined by pain


Why is thy face so lit with smiles, 
  Mother of Jesus! why? 
And wherefore is thy beaming look 
  So fixed upon the sky? 


From out thine overflowing eyes 
  Bright lights of gladness part, 
As though some gushing fount of joy 
  Had broken in thy heart. 


Mother! how canst thou smile today?
  How can thine eyes be bright, 
When He, thy Life, thy Love, thine All,
  Hath vanished from thy sight?


His rising form on Olivet
  A summer's shadow cast; 
The branches of the hoary trees
  Drooped as the shadow passed.


And as He rose with all His train 
  Of righteous souls around, 
His blessing fell into thine heart, 
  Like dew into the ground. 


Down stooped a silver cloud from heaven,
  The Eternal Spirit's car, 
And on the lessening vision went, 
  Like some receding star.


The silver cloud hath sailed away,
  The skies are blue and free; 
The road that vision took is now
  Sunshine and vacancy.


The Feet which thou hast kissed so oft, 
  Those living Feet, are gone; 
Mother ! thou canst but stoop and kiss 
  Their print upon the stone. 


He loved the Flesh thou gavest Him,
  Because it was from thee; 
He loved it, for it gave Him power 
  To bleed and die for me.


That Flesh with its five witness Wounds
  Unto His throne He bore, 
For God to love, and spirits blest 
  To worship ever more.


Yes! He hath left thee, Mother dear!
  His throne is far above; 
How canst thou be so full of joy 
  When thou hast lost thy Love?


O surely earth's poor sunshine 
  now To thee mere gloom appears,
When He is gone who was its light 
  For Three-and-Thirty Tears.


Why do not thy sweet hands detain 
  His Feet upon their way?
O why doth not the Mother speak 
And bid her Son to stay?


Ah no! thy love is rightful love, 
  From all selfseeking free
The change that is such gain to Him 
  Can be no loss to thee! 


'Tis sweet to feel our Saviour's love, 
  To feel His Presence near ; 
Yet loyal love His glory holds 
 A thousand times more dear. 


Who would have known the way to love
  Our Jesus as we ought, 
If thou in varied joy and woe 
  Hadst not that lesson taught?


Ah! never is our love so pure 
  As when refined by pain, 
Or when God's glory upon earth 
  Finds in our loss its gain! 


True love is worship: Mother dear!
  O gain for us the light To love, 
because the creature's love
  Is the Creator's right!
Father Frederick William Faber 
Why is thy face so lit with smiles (Hymn for the Ascension) 
1849 

[This poem-hymn by Father Faber had usually only five of its stanzas printed in older hymnals. May Our Lady intercede for our Clergy and Seminarians, in particular for those who might feel overwhelmed at this moment: may their love be constantly refined by the glorious pain of their sacrifices!]