“The Blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will
Her Feet Shod with Holiness
And, if our faith had given us nothing more Than this Example, of all Womanhood, So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good, So patient, so peaceful, loyal, loving pure~ This were enough to prove it higher and truer Than all the creeds the world had known before. Virgin, who lovest the poor and lonely, If the loud cry of a mother’s heart Can ever ascend to where thou art, Into thy blessed hands and holy Receive my prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Let the hands that bore our Savior bear it Into the awful presence of God; For thy feet with holiness are shod, And, if thou bearest it, he will hear it.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
For Reflection:
What qualities does Longfellow cite that underscore for him why Mary is the “Example of all Womanhood”? How have we seen these virtues expressed in the excerpts from A Woman Wrapped with Silence? Which of these virtues do I need most to acquire? What does the poet admit is the benefit of offering our prayers to Jesus through Mary, His Mother?
© 2016 Living His Life Abundantly® / Women of Grace®
Tall men were these, the shepherds come
A little girl had wandered in the night, and now within
There was no room for them within the inn,
A little while, and then the day was slipping down behind
A Christmas Journey of Prayer*
Then the word came with the iron of empire
“No one could ever say more truly than Mary:
"…Mary acquired a very special relation with God.
"The God who made all things gave Himself form
