NeuroDivine

Lamb-Light on the Ancient Way

St Agnes’s Day passed yesterday, and her quiet courage has been lingering with me. Agnes is one of those early Roman martyrs whose witness feels strangely contemporary—not because of the drama of her story, but because of the clarity of her belonging. She knew herself held, sheltered, and named by God.

Each year in Rome, on her feast, two small lambs are brought to the Bishop of Rome. Carried in baskets lined with flowers, they are blessed with tenderness, and later their wool becomes the pallia worn by new archbishops—a sign of shepherding rooted in gentleness rather than power. It is a ritual that feels almost Celtic in its instinct: the lamb as a symbol of vulnerability, blessing, and the weaving of community.

That image stayed with me—lambs offered in trust, wool spun into signs of care—and it found its way into a new hymn, “Lamb-Light on the Ancient Way.”

The hymn lets Agnes walk beside the Irish landscape:

• standing stones and ash leaves,
• rowan branches and wells where pilgrims bend,
• and the Irish wind that still stirs something ancient in us.

It is also a hymn for all of us who live with tender hearts in a world that often demands hardness. Agnes reminds us that courage does not always roar; sometimes it simply stands, quietly, in the light.

If you would like to pray with it, sing with it, or simply rest in its imagery, the hymn follows below. May it be a small shelter for anyone who needs one today—a reminder that we are held, guided, and gathered like lambs in the arms of the Shepherd.

Lamb-Light on the Ancient Way

O Christ, whose lambs find shelter deep
Within Your circling care,
You strengthened Agnes’ steadfast heart
To stand in light and prayer.

As she once walked through Roman dust
With courage calm and clear,
So guide Your lambs on Ireland’s paths
Where saints have knelt in fear.

By rowan branch and ash‑leaf green,
By wells where pilgrims bend,
Let martyr‑faith take root again
Where oak and skywood blend.

Where standing stones keep watch through time
And woven crosses gleam,
Your Spirit stirs the Irish wind
To wake the lambs who dream.

So fold us in Your shepherd‑arms
Through storm and shadowed night;
Till hearts, like Agnes’, rise in grace
And shine with Easter light.

To Father, Shepherd of all lambs,
And Christ, the Paschal Light,
And Spirit, wind on ancient hills,
Be praise in endless night.

Text copyright (c) 2026 Michael McFarland Campbell. All rights reserved. Suggested tune St Agnes CM.