MOTHER OF A PRIEST
M other, I heard His voice today,
A whispering words to me-
And oh! How rapturous His message sweet!
It’s a priest I’m going to be!
I know you are glad dear mother;
That mine is the “better part,”
For though I must leave you, mother;
I know He will comfort your heart.
O Mother, a feast He has prepared,
A love-feast celestial and rare-
And the food is His Sacred Body,
Enthroned on each altar fair.
His own Heart is my living chalice
His Blood is the banquet wine-
He has promised His Soul and His Body
For this body and soul of mine.
T o your bosom Mother God gave a babe
That your mother joy be increased,
While tenderly you loved what He gave you,
Now you’re giving him back as a priest.
O, Mother, I’m sure you’ll be happy—
May His thrice-holy will be done,
For Mary will now be my Mother,
And the Christ be your loving son.
H appy you will be dear Mother,
The Master has told me so—
For your joys far surpass those of angels
Joys that only priests’ mothers may know.
O, He gave you to be my mother.
Now you give to His Mother your son,
And sweetly the Mother of Jesus,
Instead gives Her Only One.
E verlasting secrets He whispered,
For no other hearts but for mine-
And Mother, whate’er be my glory
I’ll not claim it, for it is all thine:
For he told me that in the beginning,
‘Twas appointed that an anointed one
Should have you for his own dear mother
That you’d have a priest for a son.
R eserved in the realm of many “mansions,”
There awaits a jeweled throne,
As a reward to priests’ saintly mothers
Whom He loves as He loved His own.
And some day my dearest mother,
When the trials of life’s days are done,
Christ will meet us both at the Portals,
A mother and her priestly son.
Author Unknown. This poem was discovered at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario, Canada.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO THE MOTHERS OF OUR PAPA PRIESTS.
