Irish Jesuit Province

In MayAuthor(s): John FitzpatrickSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 35, No. 407 (May, 1907), pp. 254-255Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20501146 .

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254 THE- IRISH.h MONTHLY

,Will knowledge, then,

suffice, New Year?" I cried; But ere the question into silence -died,

The answer came: "Nay, this remember,: too

God's Will to do.'

Once more I asked: "Is there still more to tell ? "

And once again the answer sweetly fell:

"Yea, this one thing all other things above

God's Will to love.'

God's will to know-God's will to do-God's will to love: here is strength, contentment, happiness. This green earth is not an abiding eternal pl4ce'. Comrades are carried off from our side; reverses strike -us;; sickness discloses our slight hold upon.life; and the corporal faculties lose gradually their supple ness and power. The silver cord that binds together the body and the soul is weakening urnder the strain of prolonged existence; and we are warned td prepare for the moment when time shall

tbe fXno -more.-- D)ouDbtless, our best preparation is to take a chreeful view of life's dutties, and do, day by day, our work in the world, whatever it may be, with courage, hopefulness, and generosity of spirt

So when that Angel of the darker drink

At last shall find you by the river-brink,

And, offering his cup, invite your soul

Forth to your lips to quaff-you shall not shrintk.

M.W.

IN MAY,

'We knelt before Our Lady's shrine, Udplifting through the evening air

Dur thoughts to her, with zest divine, nUpo the love-fledged wings of: prayer;

When to our wondering ears there came, In low reiterated glee,

The eager-hearted cuckoo's claim To join us in our litany.

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IN MAY 255

"Mother of our Creator "-hark! The cry goes up to Mary's throne;

And, into one response, we mark The cuckoo's mingling with our own:

That touch of God's creative hand, The Spring, on man and bird is laid,

Till, fellow-creatures in the land, We praise Him through the Mother-Maid.

From priest and people mount on high The invocations one by one,

Beating upon the azure sky In alternating antiphon:

"Cause of our joy," to her we say, Whose Son made fallen earth rejoice;

And while for Christian joy we pray, Hark! once again the cuckoo's voice.

Then to the Prophets' Queen we raise The homage of our heart and mind,

Petition following on our praise With one but beat of wing behind;

When Spring, the prophet of the year, Through this her herald bird makes plain

That she, like many a sacred seer, Is subject to Our Lady's reign.

So, from our neighbour's orchard trees, That jocund sound be often sent,

Through windows opening to the breeze, To be with our own voices blent:

Oh! sweet to hear the cuckoo-bird, When May renews the green world thus

Importune, with his hopeful word, Her whom we pray to " pray for us."

JOHN FITZPATRICK, O.M.I.

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