Traditional Latin Mass in Enfield Ct Wednesday at 7:00 P.M. Low Mass Nov. 22nd
St. Martha Catholic Church 214 Brainard Rd. Enfield Enfield Ct
THE PRIESTLY ROBE
Touch it lightly, or not at all.
Let it not fall !
Let not a fabric so august
Trail in the dust!
`Tis a costly thing,
Woven by love in suffering.
`Twas Jesus` parting gift to men.
When the Lord rose to Heaven again,
His latest breathing fell on it.
A mystery hides within its folds.
Quickened by sacramental breath,
It holds
The power of life and death.
Would you sully it ? Would you rend it?
Is there a Christian would not defend it-
A robe so costly and so rare,
So wonderfully fair ?
Woe to the hand profane
Woe to the heart ungracious,
Woe to the tongue unheeding,
Would dare to cast a stain
On a vestment made so precious
By such costly bleeding!
II
I know this robe and its history,
And what strange virtue goeth forth
From its hem to bless the earth;
And I adore the mystery
That gives it grace,
In Jesus` name, to soothe and heal.
With more than human tenderness
I prize the priestly order;
And, while the reverent knee I kneel,
I do not see beneath the border
Frail feet of clay,
But seek to find, if so I may,
By feeling,
Some gracious thread which will convey
To my sore spirit healing.
Vicars of Christ ! deem me not rude,
If nearer than is wont I press me;
But turn and bless me
Amid the kneeling multitude.
The priestly robe Rev. Clarence Walworth anno 1888
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