CHOSEN

CHOSEN

Rom 9:2-3

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race.

The Celtic blood doth sing in my soul.
A song comes from afar, across the waves
Of time and space to where I now dwell.
I feel a yearning for something lost,
Something glorious, that is inexpressible.
And I feel an expectation of something yet to come,
Something marvelous, that is indescribable.
And yet I feel a haunting sorrow, too.
The Faith of the true God is the banner of my people,
But the banner has been trampled to the earth.
Our enemies gloat over us, and oppress us still.
For many have forsaken the God of our fathers,
Many have betrayed the covenant of Christ,
And many have paid the price for such unfaithfulness.
Those who carried the banner,
Those who planted it on our shores,
In our hearts yet live, and breathe,
And testify to our tribulations.
We have suffered for our Faith,
But much more evil is the pain,
Of those who have suffered the loss of their Faith.
Still, among the Faithful a bloodline stretches across
The barriers and beyond the boundaries
Which constrain mere mortals--
Those whose existence is limited to their senses.
Our bloodline extends from an unbroken race,
A bloodline running strong since mankind's dawn.
A bloodline pure, unmixed,
A lineage, a family, not of frail flesh,
But of something much more enduring.
We speak of the spiritual, or may we say, the mystical
Union of the Brotherhood of the Faith.
This is a misunderstood mystery, a skeptical claim,
Even an enigma to those who abide outside the Faith.
But for those who are members of Christ's Clan,
This Union binds us together as one Race,
Outside the limitations of time and space.
Our ancestry is more sure and certain,
Than the rotation of the heavens in their spheres.
The song still lives in the sons and daughters
Of Saint Patrick.  Those who follow his Faith
In the God of the Christ.  The Redeemer
In whose blood was bound the future fortunes
Of Ireland and her sisters;
The nations who would share in our Faith.
We will raise once more the banner,
The banner which has never known defeat,
And bring back again the wayward ones to their God.
And so shall our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified,
He who died for our island, and he who rules us still.
We shall restore the banner, and bring him back the glory
Which once was his, and rightly should be his alone.
The blood of Jesus is our plea for deliverance,
The blood of Jesus is our only hope of safety,
The blood of Jesus is what makes us strong,
The blood of Jesus is what makes us one.
The blood of Jesus did not fall in vain upon the ground.
It was not in vain that the Son of God breathed his last.
But would his sacrifice avail for our race,
Or would our race forever be lost?
Would the ancient religion hold us in eternal prisons?
Would the darkness remain upon our land?
Or would the light of Christ's great love,
Be enough to lend sight to our blinded eyes?
His blood did avail over all,
Releasing our tribe from the chains of deception,
Bringing the freedom only the truth possesses.
Saint Patrick, pursuing his given destiny,
Conquered in the name of our Great Messiah.
The banner was taken by the hearts made glad
By the good news of the God who had saved them.
Thank him whose name is Reverend,
Holy, Faithful and True.
The Father, who, looking over the portals of time,
Sent his Son, so that this life-giving message
Might travel long miles far
Beyond the pale of that chosen land of his friend, Abraham,
Until it reached even the shores of our fair home.
And then, being set free from our former master,
We became willing servants of the Lord of Heaven.
What have the years brought down to us?
What has time done to our Faith?
Is the truth no longer the same?
Or are our hearts no longer moved by Christ's claim?
If others have trodden the banner down,
Should we forsake Christ and follow the crowd? 
Regardless of what our earthly parents have done,
We renounce the past of which we had no part.
We are not beholden to any, whether kin or not.
We will not give place to the dead,
Nor yield allegiance to the past,
Neither give preference to those who have gone before.
Nor shall we be snared by their faithlessness,
And put mortal blood above the blood of God's own Son.
We must answer to no man for our Faith.
We belong to none but the Faithful,
Regardless of who our forefathers might be.
Nor can we rely on others to carry us home.
We must have a Faith which is all our own.
Not for a moment, will we be ashamed to put
Christ's blood first place in our heart and soul.
We have no allegiance stronger than that.
We have no ties stronger than those
Which bind us to the cross of Jesus Christ.
We need our Faith restored.
We need to raise the banner again.
Our pride is trampled to the ground.
Our hope is crushed beneath the heels of our enemy.
The pride in which we gloried was the Son of God.
Why are we ashamed to bear his name?
The hope in which we trusted
Was Christ's promise of everlasting life.
Why have we forsaken our hope?
Will it be that Erin shall stand at the bar
And be proclaimed faithful before the saints and angels?
Will she be received into mansions fair,
Or cast out into everlasting darkness?
Shall her people be present
At the great banquet of the Lamb,
Or will they stand weeping outside Heaven's gates?
Will they be restored to the Unity of the Faith,
Even as the divided and scattered nation of Israel,
Shall be gathered together as one at last?
Has the time of destiny passed away for our island nation,
Or has she yet to see her finest hour?
I know not of the rest of mankind,
And of the families of men,
But I know of mine, and whence I came.
And thus my heart is heavy with a yearning indefinable;
Sometimes crushing, sometimes sorrowful,
But tinged with hope and expectancy
For some yet unseen wonder which is to come
Unto those who are the descendants of
Those first faithful followers of ours.
God bless the lineage of our Savior,
Which being a bloodline of True Believers
In the one and only God,
Chosen by God, and elect according to his word,
Has never been broken since Adam,
But has been preserved by the word
And kept by the power of God unto salvation.
Blessed be the Lord from his place,
And may he grant cover and shelter
To Erin's Race within his tents.
He is our Banner,
He is our Shield,
He is our Sword,
And may he be our Lord;
Whether others, kin or foe, follow or not.
The song comes from across the waves.
The closer I get to the shore, the stronger it grows.
The song is of his grace.
The song is for the Faithful,
And speaks of our Lord's faithfulness and truth.
His mercy rests upon us still.
I am following, searching, climbing, pursuing.
I am hoping, listening, watching, waiting.
I am yearning, hungering, thirsting, longing,
For the likes of those with Abraham's Faith,
And Paul's Faith, and Patrick's Faith,
And of others who likewise have followed
Their same path, to come back to Ireland again.
To Christ I swear fealty, my oath, my loyalty.
His liege and ambassador I am.
None other ever loved me so, nor ever shall any,
So I look for no other.
God grant that my heart may be true
And sing forever of Christ my King and him alone,
Who shed his blood for such a one as I!