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POETRY
Advent Longing
Advent longing beats in my heart like the
longing of an expectant mother who waits for a face-to-face
encounter with the child within.
So I yearn for the birth of a new
child of grace in me.
Then in the dark silence an encounter takes
place heart-side within.
Listening I hear, be my
Christ-mass you will see me be born be sent.
-- Sr. Christa Cunningham, OP St. Augustine,
Fla.
Emmanuel
Softly, like the wisp of a breeze on a warm spring
morning, Silently, like the settling of snow on a crisp winter
night, Simply, like the meadowlarks song on a lazy June
afternoon, You settle in our hearts, Singular in your quest
to
bear us back to God.
Come, Lord Jesus, Come.
-- Sr. Diana Seago, OSB Atchison, Kan.
Marys Mass
Yes, Mary said to the Angel, And the Word
became Flesh. Placing her hand on the altar of her body On Jesus within,
Mary said, His is my body, His is my blood. Marys
Mass. The Word of God takes Flesh, Marys Mass, the
Incarnation. Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.
No! Mary humbly said, Be it done unto THEE according to MY
word! This is my body, this is my blood! And the Word was made
Flesh. Marys Mass.
-- Bruce Snowden Brunswick, Ga.
God with Us
If Jesus born of Mary shows us God most clearly (if
the baby Jesus, in some real sense, is God), then a child is God and we
can see God by watching children. But Shakespeares mewing,
puking infant does not seem especially Godlike.
Babies
need a lot of care (at both ends). A child is dependent, weak, dumb and
quite full of greed. So if our God is like a child, we then must be
adults: responsible, aware -- and work to feed, to clothe, to teach, to
clean, to love unconditionally, to share ourselves. Imagine! Not a king,
or wild avenging warrior, but (my God!) a child
-- Steven Shoemaker Champaign, Ill.
Covenant
The world is still wounded --
one long jagged scar
throbbing.
And yet -- this
blessing.
This amazing luminous continual blessing
in
the shape of a baby
comes to us each year.
Comes
quietly, in the midst of winter
when all seems barren
and dead
bringing the promise of our deepest
life.
-- Christine Rodgers San Francisco
2001 in Poetry
2000 in Poetry
1999 in Poetry
Poems should be previously unpublished and limited to about 50
lines and preferably typed. Please send poems to NCR POETRY, 115 E.
Armour Blvd., Kansas City MO 64111-1203. Or via e-mail to
poetry@natcath.org or fax (816) 968-2280. Please include your street
address, city, state, zip and daytime telephone number. NCR offers a
small payment for poems we publish, so please include your Social Security
number.
National Catholic Reporter, December 21,
2001
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