The First Voice

The first prayer for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, in the oratory at Seven Hills Ranch, was offered up on November 26th 2011 and took the form of two hymns in plainchant, the Ave Maria, and the Salve Regina. The builders and ranch masters halted as time stopped to memorialize the initial sanctification of the new chapel.

There's a spot in the Valley of Inwood
That is called The Seven Hills Ranch,
Where the hillsides are high cloaked with vineyards
To which I'd return at the chance.
From a crest looking down on the valley
A sanctuary tower may be seen
Dedicated to Sancta Maria,
Stabat Mater of Heaven the Queen.

I sent up a prayer for Our Lady
For Mary the Mother of God,
I sent up a prayer and the hills were still
Like the builders who stopped where they trod.
And the hymn that I sang was as old as the hills
And it rose to the new chapel's dome,
Filling the air with a hope and a prayer
In a space that will ever be home.

Never before had a song been sung
Never a voice offered up,
Not since the chapel was first conceived
As the venue to raise host and cup.
And the song was the sanctification
It flew to the beams like a dart
And those who were there will remember the prayer
For Our Lady engraved on their heart.

And the valley of Inwood will blossom
Its hillsides will bloom and be fair,
The wines from its vines will fill up the cup
When communion is taken there.
And bells of Our Lady of Sorrows
Will peel out the Angelus Change,
Across the vineyards and out and away
To all seven hills within range.