Commemoration of a Faithful Priest
by VP
Posted on Monday May 13, 2019 at 12:24PM in Poetry
Quantis micas boneribus
Good Priest, where art thou hid from human eyes
in calm Repose,
Haply to tread the marble-shining skies
after life’s woes;
Where God’s Own Presence hath His People blest,
Himself their happy Guerdon, and their rest.
Those Virtues, in whose steps thou here didst toil,
and strive to go,
Are not put off with this thy fleshly coil,
and left below;
They now are turned to rays of Light Divine,
and glorious Crowns, which on thy temples shine.
And they for whom thou toilest in second birth,
with many a sigh,
Are with thee, like thy children, fled from earth,
and through the sky
They share thy victory the blest Choirs among,
and lift with thee the new mysterious Song.
Thou here below, dim-veiled from earthly eyes
in shadows dread,
Didst offer up th’Unbloody Sacrifice,
on Christ to feed;
He now Himself, with unveiled Deity,
of Spirits Immortal the Repast shall be.
And as a daily Sacrifice may we
Be lifted up,
Bearing our daily Cross, and share with thee
Thy Master’s Cup;
We press, like shipwrecked sailors on the wave,
To Shores where Christ doth stretch His Arms
to save.
To Him, Who governs His own Priestly Host,
Himself their Crown;
To Him with Father and with Holy Ghost,
be all renown:
All praise to Him as hath been heretofore,
All praise to Him both now and evermore.
Source: Lyra Eucharistica : hymns and verses on the Holy Communion, ancient and modern ; with other poems by Shipley, Orby, 1832-1916
