Friend of the home

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Friend of the home: as when in Galilee
The mothers brought their little ones to Thee,
So we, dear Lord, would now the children bring,
And seek for them the shelter of Thy wing.

Thine are they, by Thy love’s eternal claim,
Thine we baptize them in the threefold Name;
Yet not the sign we trust, Lord, but the grace
That in Thy fold prepared the lambs a place.

Lord, may Thy Church, as with a mother’s care,
For Thee the lambs within her bosom bear;
And grant, as morning grows to noon, that they
Still in her love and holy service stay.

Draw through the child the parents nearer Thee,
Endue their home with growing sanctity;
And gather all, by earthly homes made one,
In Heaven, O Christ, when earthly days are done.