Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A
Shepherd’s Path from the Mountain of La Salette
For Reverend Ron Foshage, M.S.
Our Lady’s Faithful Missionary
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
