If Every Home Were an Alter

If every home were an altar, Where holiness vows were paid, And life’s best gifts in sacrament Of purest love were laid;

If every home were an altar Where harsh and angry thought Was cast aside for kindly one, And true forgiveness sought;

If every home were an altar Where hearts weighed down with care Could find sustaining strength and grace In sweet uplift of prayer;

Then solved would be earth’s problem Banished sin’s curse and blight; For God’s own love would radiate From every altar light.

—Selected