Water from a cistern

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

Epiphany has traditionally been the celebration of three mysteries: the coming of the Kings, Jesus’ baptism, and the wedding feast of Cana. Here’s a beautiful little extract from “Hymn for Epiphany” by Paul Claudel, celebrating the wedding feast. I can’t help that what Christ did with the water is the very same he would do for each of us, without hesitation. Changing our impure water into incredible wine.

The third mystery truly is at Galilee’s wedding repast
(For the first time that we see Thee, it is not as Host but as Guest)
When Thou dost change into wine, on Thy Mother’s whispered word,
The secret water there in the ten stone water-jars stored,
The bridegroom lowers his eyes. He is poor and oppressed with love:
For cistern water is hardly drink for a marriage, you know,
Such as it is in August when the reservoirs are low,
All filled with the impurities and with insects, not fit to show.

You can touch God

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

A reflection by Ann Voskamp:

Rejected at the inn, holy God come in small to where you feel rejected and small. God is with you now. Whever you are–in a soundless cry or hidden brokenness or in your ache–God always wants to be with you. You are not ever left alone in this. We are never left alone in this; God is with us.

This is Love you can’t comprehend. You can only feel and touch this kind. There, in the place where you feel rejected, you can be touched by God. There, in the places you feel small, you can touch God. He came in the flesh.

Come kneel close.

Let the warm breath of heaven fall on you.

God waits to be held.

God waits for you to draw close.

My friend, Benjamin Embley, at Contemplative in the Mud wrote a beautiful reflection on touch as the most religious sense. You can read it here.

The Ageless Hymn

Sr. Dorcee, beloved2 Comments

Our hearts’ longing:
  to sound Thy praises in fresh and untried ways,
To bring new pleasure to Thy ears
  on this Feast of Thy Birth,
  pouring at Thy feet rich ointment
   of fragrance sweet,
And crowning Thy head with golden garlands
  whose brightness is unvisioned.

But, alas, there is not song that is yet unsung
Or words unwritten to sound in Thy ears
Or gold of such wonder that is yet unseen.
There is nothing new found meet an fitting for Thee.

Except in Thee.
For You are the Praise and the Song and the Feast.
You alone are pleasing, and apart from Thee
  there is no beauty.
In You is every new song,
And a life lived in Thee is a crown on Thy brow.

So on this day when hearts burst forth,
And seek to find new ways to praise,
We gladly lose our lives in You,
  poured fully out at Thy feet.

And You, dear Christ, will be our Song,
  ageless and renowned,
The perfect Hymn of offering.

             26 December 1990
             Feast of the Incarnation

Let Him proceed from His chamber

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment
copyright Christel Holl

Turn to us, You who sustain Israel,
who sit above the Cherubim,
appear before Ephraim,
stir up your might and come.

Come, Redeem of the nations,
show the birth of the Virgin;
all generations admire it:
such a birth befits God.

Not from the seed of man
but through a mystic breath
God’s word became flesh,
and the fruit of the womb blossomed.

The womb of the Virgin swells,
but purity’s cloister remains intact;
the banners of the virtues are resplendent:
God is in His temple.

Let Him proceed from His chamber,
royal hall of purity,
as a giant of dual nature,
to run his path with alacrity.

His coming from the Father,
his return to the Father;
his passage even to the netherworld,
his return to the place of God.

You who are equal to the eternal Father,
gird up the trophy of the flesh,
strengthening with unfailing virtue
our body’s weakness.

Already your crib shines bright,
and the night spreads a new light
that no darkness can obscure.
and perennial faith shines forth.

St. Ambrose