Lawrence Hall 2d A Shepherd's Path from La Salette Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Shepherd’s Path from the Mountain of La Salette
For a good and kindly priest who is being transferred after forty years of faithful service
The old order changeth, yielding place to new
-Tennyson, Idylls of the King
We don’t know if the cart drivers have stopped swearing Or if the potato crops are doing well this year Or if the rocks have indeed become wheat Or if everyone prays an Ave each day
We don’t know if the Field of Coin still flourishes Or if the people of Corps faithfully attend Mass Or if barefoot boys and girls still herd sheep Or if they listen, as did Melanie and Maximin
But we do know that Our Lady of La Salette To care for us through our pilgrimage in time In a land far from that holy mountain Has blessed us with Her most faithful missionary
Through the ordinal cycles of seasons and feasts He served the Table in the Name of the Lord He baptized us, taught us, confirmed us, confessed us Married us, anointed us, and buried our dead
Through blessed years and tears and nights and days – But now to the Will of God We surrender him with thanks and prayers and praise
And God fulfils Himself in many ways
-Tennyson
Notre Dame de La Salette, Our Lady of La Salette, Missionaries of La Salette, and, lurking in the background, a high-ranking ecclesiastic who isn't very nice to priests who actually work hard and serve humanity.