Happy Candlemas Day!

Also known as the Feast of the Purification of our Lady.

Here is one of my favorite hymns:

O purest of creatures,

Sweet mother sweet maid,

The one spotless womb

Wherein Jesus was laid.

All lost in the darkness

We call upon thee

And look to thy shining,

Bright star of the sea.

O fairest of virgins,

Sweet mother, sweet maid,

Whom God in His goodness

With beauty arrayed.

He lovingly chose thee

His mother to be;

He shown in thy shining,

Bright star of the sea.

O may thy pure light

On our souls ever shine;

And keep them unsullied

And sinless as thine,

Till after this exile

United we be,

Through ages unending,

In glory with thee.

-O Purest of Creatures,

from The New St. Basil Hymnal