Mother Stuart on the Easter Apparitions

Today I thought I would share something from Reverend Mother Stuart on the Easter Apparitions. It is from a little book of her poems that was given to me in Scotland. The title is "Poems" and
the editor is Maud Monahan. It was printed in 1924 and I had the joy of sitting in the little Chapel where Mother Stuart is buried in England, and reading these poems aloud to and with her as she really made her presence felt in that time alone with her. I also had the joy of Mass at noon two days in the Chapel with only two or three present.

"They say that earth has little joy,
That, through the lapse of many years,
Beneath a heavy-laden sky,
We wander down a vale of tears.

And yet, to those who hold the key
Of faith and knowledge heaven-born,
At times the vale of human tears
Is sunlit as the Easter morn.

There is a joy--it may not last--
But for the moment it is ours,
When all the sounds of earth are hushed,
And from the height of Sion's towers

The chimes are wafted, with the song
Melodious to the inward ear,
And, through the mists, Jerusalem
Orbs itself to a vision clear,

As Jesus risen walked the earth,
Appeared, and then was seen no more,
And yet again returned, and stood
With His Apostles as before,

And bade them clasp His Hands, and one,
Reluctant, with a loving shame,
To sound the sacred, wounded Side
And own He was the very same.

As sent from Heaven, the Paraclete
Who should the Apostles' words inspire
On each upturned, expectant brow
Lighted in tongues of lambent fire.

And breathing ever where He will,
Though none can tell from whence He came,
Nor wither goes the Sacred Breath,
Nor where He carries Jesus' Name.

Still through the Church's courts and far
Through desert regions sounds His voice,
Life-giving, full, omnipotent,
Making the wilderness rejoice.

So Jesus yet, though all unseen,
To quickened minds and hearts appears,
And still the Paraclete from Heaven
Is present unto wistful tears.

Though but a moment as they pass,
Such priceless joy they leave behind,
Nor years nor sorrows can efface
That golden glory from the mind."