Your light will come, Jerusalem;
the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.(Responsory, Advent Morning Prayer, The Liturgy of the Hours)
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.(Isaiah 60:1-2)
It was a great surprise to me to find myself blind, and being blind was not at all as I imagined it.... They told me that to be blind meant not to see. Yet how was I to believe them when I saw! Not at once, I admit.... For at that time I still wanted to use my eyes. I followed their usual path. I looked in the direction where I was in the habit of seeing before the accident, and there was anguish, a lack, something like a void which filled me with what grownups call despair....
...some instinct — I was almost about to say a hand laid on me — made me change course. I began to look more closely, not at things but at a world closer to myself, looking from an inner place to one further within, instead of clinging to the movement of sight toward the world outside.
Immediately, the substance of the universe drew together, redefined and peopled itself anew. I was aware of a radiance emanating from a place I knew nothing about, a place which might as well have been outside me as within. but radiance was there, or, to put it more precisely, light. If was a fact, for light was there.
I felt indescribable relief, and happiness so great it almost made me laugh. Confidence and gratitude came as if a prayer had been answered. I found light and joy at the same moment...
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Cat Peering
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.(Psalm 104:24)
Baby Squirrel Nibbling Spanish Moss
Baby Squirrel Nibbling Nail...test everything;I notice that Paul does not say "taste everything," however, which could be more than slightly risky.
hold fast to what is good;
abstain from every form of evil. (5:20-21)
"Angel" Glimpsed Praying in WoodsTake off your shoes from your feet,for the place on which you are standingis holy ground.(Exodus 3:5)
Earth's crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God:But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Street ReflectionNow we see only reflections in a mirror,
mere riddles,
but then we shall be seeing face to face.
Now I can know only imperfectly;
but then I shall know just as fully
as I am myself known.(I Corinthians 13:12, New Jerusalem Bible)
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (1 John 4:16b)
"If I say, "Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you,
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you."
Psalm 139:11-12
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made
through him,
and without him was not anything made
that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of all people...
The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth.
We have beheld his glory,
glory as of the only Son
from the Father.
(John 1:1-4;14)
"The Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty."
(from the Liturgy of the Hours)
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. (Genesis 37:3 KJV)
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Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I;
for you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.
Let me abide in your tent for ever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings.Psalm 61:1-4
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. (Luke 12:6)
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.Psalm 36:7-9
Rain Against Window
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And of thy store two loaves are left,
Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
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Dandelion against Blue SkyThat Nature Is a Heraclitean Fireand of theComfort of the ResurrectionDown roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, ' wherever an elm arches,Shivelights and shadowtackle in long ' lashes lace, lance, and pair.Delightfully the bright wind boisterous ' ropes, wrestles, beats earth bareSquandering ooze to squeezed ' dough, crust, dust; stanches, starchesBut quench her bonniest, dearest ' to her, her clearest-selvèd sparkIs any of him at all so starkFall to the residuary worm; ' world’s wildfire, leave but ash:Is immortal diamond.- Gerard Manley Hopkins
(Click on photo to view full sizeFor God’s foolishnessis wiser than human wisdom,and God’s weaknessis stronger than human strength.(1 Corinthians 1:25)
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NRSV)
My beloved speaks and says to me:
"Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;
for lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
