An Adoring, Loving Mother +

Madonna with the Host - Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Ingres makes the flames of the attendants' lamps seem meager, pale, and drear compared to the face of Our Lady and the luminous Host before her. How true it must have been when the world's "lanterns, torches, and weapons" appeared before Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane [Jn 18,3b]. How true it still remains.

The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
Like sunshine at noonday His glory shone in;
The Light of the world is Jesus.

R: Come to the Light, 'tis shining for thee!
Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see;
The Light of the world is Jesus.

No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
We walk in the Light when we follow our Guide;
The Light of the world is Jesus. R

Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
Go wash at His bidding and light will arise;
The Light of the world is Jesus. R

No need of the sunlight in heaven, we're told;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
The Lamb is the Light in the City of Gold;
The Light of the world is Jesus. R