We thought we knew him, Father Pacis,
Yet we never half-expected
Him among the ones elected
Bishop---Princeps Caritatis---
With a promise they must keep---
"Feed my lambs, feed my sheep!"
The Philippine Vincentians' fate
That the centuries reflected,
Was that no one was elected
To the Church's Episcopate.
Yes, no one still was called to keep
His flock; to tend and feed His sheep.
There must be something in the man
Behind that bushy seeming frown
Something that made Christ look down
And, speaking through the Vatican
Say "Here is one of those who'll keep
And tend my flock and feed my sheep."
He taught the old to accept the new
But used the wisdom of the past
To temper those who moved too fast.
That they may keep the faith; be true
And Bicolandia thus may reap
Good helpers---Priests---to feed his sheep.
A man who knew he did not know
All that there is to know; who loved
But Christ and Christ alone, and proved
This love by loving friend and foe;
Who would not rest and would not sleep
Until he fed His littlest sheep.
Is there still something more than this?
More than all the things he did
That from our eyes still is hid?
Could it be...that "something" ...is
That even with no vow to keep
He loved His lambs, he loved His sheep?
A pictorial in verse for episcopal ordination
of Bishop Teotimo C. Pacis
The Rainbow, January, 1967
photo credit: Rome, Italy 2009 via photopin (license)
License: (license)
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