Philippine:
your struggle to learn English
imposed a silence mitigated only
by your passion to do God’s will,
to teach the children who captured your heart.
The Potawatomi saw in you
a profound and holy utterance,
proclaimed in nursing the sick and dying,
celebrated by teaching the little ones their prayers.
St. Philippine, pray for us:
we who have no words to speak our hearts,
for whom language fails and thoughts are mute.
Pray that we will learn:
a life of prayer, mercy, and love
is the only language we need.
- Judy Locke
Sacred Heart Associate, Houston
