To Be A Priest

To be a priest – how blest a thing

To walk the way that Christ has trod

To know the longings of each soul

And help the creature seek its God.

To guide the young, baptize the child,

To light dark places everywhere

To lessen the pangs of death itself

Christ in His priest is always there.

To aid by prayer and power divine

Each erring and repentant heart,

To walk a selfish sinful earth

Serene unstained – a man apart.

To bid the uncreated God

In words so sacred and so old

Descend and rest in human hands

Great deeds in simple words are told.

To see like God the breaking heart

To soothe when earthly powers have ceased

To walk the way that Christ has trod

How blest a thing to be a priest!