Immaculata

An original song

Stanislav Traykov - Michelangelo's Pieta

This song I wrote in one night, September 15, 2014 to be precise, which Catholics call the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother. Why sorrowful? Consider that she had to give birth under very uncertain circumstances, and then flee to Egypt because of Herod. She raised Jesus but she had to endure those three days when he was lost to her. At age 12. And again at age 33.

She stood beneath Jesus’s cross and received him from the cross. For a mother to lose her child is among her worst fears. But this manner of death, so brutal, so shameful! Mary also lost him when he went to his years of ministry. In fact, she asked him to start his ministry at the Wedding at Cana rather than delay him. Yet she knew from the prophecies what was ahead.

The point I’d like to make is this: at each moment of trial or suffering, or unknowing, she said yes to God. She was perfectly surrendered to God’s will. Therefore we must recognize her as a perfect model for us of what we are meant to become. She deserves our respect, our honor. She endured true poverty, she was a refugee, and she accepted the horrifying suffering of her Son, so much so that her heart was pierced, as Simeon had foretold.

I wrote about this because I recently was able to sing the words to the song Immaculata for the first time. In it I describe three times Mary said yes to God. So now I share the song for the first time. The music is not sweet. It describes three times she surrendered to God. It is hard to sing. But I think we need to remember that God has never said we won’t suffer. He has said exactly the opposite many times! Through his apostles, he said that suffering is necessary because it is through suffering we are made more and more like him. Indeed we must each take up our cross, or we are not his disciples.

This is my true voice, rough sometimes, or unsteady, but this way you get to hear the words. The organ is computer-generated. Enjoy. And please comment! And ignore the little tag at the end. Apple Music wastes no time cycling you to the next song (smile).

Immaculata!
From whom the Savior had his birth,
It could not be from any other,
But only you of blessed worth,
Oh sweetest mother, and precious child,
Known to the angels, but not on earth.
The angels sang your lullaby, 
Announced to poor ones the coming King.
And his dear mother, the unknown queen.

Chorus
Mary sweet mother,
Your worth is not measured in crowns or thrones.
What once was hidden gladly we make known.
You loved God completely, He made you His own.
You trusted your Maker, gave all into His hands,
Including that babe in swaddling bands.

Immaculata!
You watched Him grow up from His youth,
You knew the time was sweet but fleeting
That He would dwell beneath your roof.
And now the time is here. The wedding guests
Have drunk the wine and you will tell your Son.
He’ll turn the water to the best wine, 
So that the deaf can hear, the blind can see,
And prisoners be set free, His Kingdom come.

Chorus

Immaculata!
You watched your Son be mocked and scorned,
Then scourged with whips and crowned with thorns.
The Lamb of God was to be slain, 
A bloody sacrifice to cleanse our shame.
You stood there, Mary, a mother grieving,
Beneath the wood of His great suffering.
You bore with him His pain, the nails, the thorns,
The sword that pierced His heart also pierced yours. 

Chorus

Immaculata,
Our Mother!