A
STRONGHOLD SAFE FROM SATAN
Were
am I safe, Lord?
What remote fortress, castle keep or island bulwark is
my sure haven against the ever
rampaging armies of Satan?
Where is my security, God, except
in Your strong house?
Where
else have I protection against hell's deadly lightning
bolts of temptation,
and whorish
hurricanes of hellfire?
Is any shimmering metropolis or airy mountain top preferable
to the ivory City of God?
Is any citadel stronger than the safe house
of my Lord? No,
none! None!
I
could build a bunker of hardest granite
on a far, far mountain precipice and ring it round with
ramparts and turrets of fire.
I
could tunnel deep into the rocky earth
and carve out a dank subterranean cave protected by sea-serpents
and sharks.
I
could commandeer a master gunboat, bypassing an endless
round of tempting ports, to navigate eternally, encircling
Mother Earth.
But
I know no human land or cave or sea abode
has walls or crews or strength enough
to safely barricade my strong impatient soul,
and keep me from the wiles of the Evil One.
Only You are my salvation!
Take
me in, then, dear God!
Barricade
me with graces! Be my Landlord
and my Shelter.
Hold
me, hold me, hold me fast, invisible
to Satan and his armies, safe in the silence
of Your Sacred Secret Heart until the day
of glory, when trumpets sound and celestial stairways
climb into the cystalled clouds.
Please,
dear, dearest loving Jesus, extend Your nail-pierced bleeding
hands to me.
Enfold me in an embrace of divine protection and take
me to my only true eternal home,
in the Sacred Grove of Your divine unending love.
All this I pray to You in burning adoration, loyal homage,
fierce fealty, deep devotion, and armored always in the
power
of Your own sure love.
Amen
