that, thy Peace
The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
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Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.'
Jesus, redeemer, redeemer of the world,
Grant us your peace. Grant us your peace.
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His Peace
William Alexander Percy, 1924
Beneath the frail pink sky,
Casting their nets in Galilee
And fish-hawks circling by.
Just off the hills of brown,
Such happy, simple fisherfolk,
Before the Lord walked down.
Before they ever knew
The peace of God that filled their hearts
Brim-full, and broke them too.
Homeless, in Patmos died.
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
Head-down, was crucified.
But strife closed in the sod.
Yet let us pray for but one thing,
The marvelous peace of God.
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought forth Israel
into joy from sadness;
loosed from Pharaoh's bitter yoke
Jacob's sons and daughters,
led them with unmoistened foot
through the Red Sea waters.
'Tis the spring of souls today;
Christ hath burst His prison,
and from three days' sleep in death
as a sun hath risen;
all the winter of our sins,
long and dark, is flying
from His light, to whom we give
laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright
with the day of splendor,
with the royal feast of feasts,
comes its joy to render;
comes to glad Jerusalem,
who with true affection
welcomes in unwearied strains
Jesus' resurrection,
Neither might the gates of death,
nor the tomb's dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal
hold Thee as a mortal;
but today amidst the twelve
Thou didst stand, bestowing
that Thy peace which evermore
passeth human knowing.