I was delighted to discover, in the Atlantic Monthly a few years ago, W. S. Merwin’s lovely translation of the last Canto of Dante’s Paradiso. Canto XXXIII presents the final vision of the poet, and concludes with the famous line about “the love which moves the sun and the other stars” (l’amor che move il [...]
Category Archive for 'Advent'
Come, O Come!
Posted in Advent, Longing, Desire on Dec 21st, 2008
Come, Lord Jesus!
Come to this world so laden with sorrow,
dirtied with greed,
fractured by war and hate,
weighed down with anxiety.
Come to our hearts that sometimes long for you
and sometimes choose lesser things over your love.
Come to your beloved people
who don’t know how to receive you.
Come as you are to me,
into this murky heart that too often [...]
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted…” So begins the Preacher’s list in Ecclesiastes 3.
We might add another to the list this Advent season: a [...]
All Shall Be Well
Posted in Advent, All Shall Be Well on Dec 24th, 2007
During breakfast, I learn from the morning paper:
• that there are about 118,000 vacancies for registered nurses in the United States;
• that the baby of a pregnant woman has died after his mother was kidnapped and set on fire;
• that soldiers in the army of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, had been known to eat [...]
We may think of the Liturgical Year as a circle, going round and round, from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany to ordinary time to Lent, to Easter, etcetera, etcetera, and then starting all over again. We read in the book of Ecclesiastes:
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will [...]