This hymn is for all who have been profoundly hurt by priests, whether physically or emotionally. The trust we give to them is no less than our very faith in God himself. We place our hearts in their sacred hands that also hold the Eucharist. To betray that trust is to betray Jesus Christ.

It is also for every priest as they struggle to console their wounded flock. It is to help them look deep within themselves so as to detach themselves from any kind of worldly desire, approval, acceptance and pray that may be replaced with the profound humility of Our Lady, the perfect disciple.

Finally, it is for all seminarians, that they may retain always the great love of their vocation and fear of the Lord that they have now. You are our hope.

We cannot measure how you heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.

The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside
the memories that haunt the mind.

So some have come who need your help,
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind, and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain
and make your broken people whole.

#MercifulLove