Baptism of the Lord
You come to me to be baptized?
yet you can grant
a thousand times my gifts!
So let it be for now,
exhausting first
all ways that are only human,
the ways that fail to share
a life in God.
We called him Bert,
the local crew of confreres,
to bring him back to life for real
after weeks of adulation
and pampering from Christian Mothers
who whispered with reverence
his name in full:
Father Bertin Roll,
the national director
of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers.
If Bert were a salesman,
he would have carried
top honors every month.
He recorded 3000 miles in driving
each month,
addressing parish women’s groups,
convincing them of the spiritual benefits
of the Christian Mothers Archconfraternity,
the mothers praying for one another,
and always for the children, and often,
determined that prayer and example
would imprint what God was making available.
The Feast of the Holy Family
Age eight, Melissa
had theological perplexities,
in wondering, if she prayed
to the Holy Family altogether,
would each respond
or would they delegate
just one to answer her prayer?
Christmas Eve 2014
When Gabriel collected
the choirs of angels for practice,
he announced
the first cantata for Christmas.
He spoke of reverence and majesty,
devotion and delight,
with joyous strains to shake the stars
and make the realms of heaven shudder.
They practiced for a millennium or two,
devising richer, more pleasant sounds,
on instruments of angelic design,
with ten thousand of sopranos,
and ten of trilling tenors,
combining mezzos and baritones
of matching number.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Our days before Christmas
diminish,
as though light were swallowed
by the dragon of darkness,
concocting the dreary hours
of covered coals and candles snuffed,
as though the sun
had jumped its rutted coarse
and drew the smallest sparks of light
within the cave
of the dragon's lair.
Third Sunday of Advent
Pronounced the greatest of humans,
the last of the prophets
of Incarnational mystery,
proclaimed Emmanuel as near,
soon to grant his baptism
with the Holy Spirit of love,
assured that the least in the kingdom
so baptized in this infinite Spirit,
was greater than John.
Second Sunday of Advent
After Adam and Eve
resisted their Maker,
they did not pray repentance,
but remembered the God
of ample stores
and asked for newer blessings.
For fearful Cain
a mark declared
he had the Lord’s protection,
as he uncovered the ores
for fashioning tools
and the handiwork
that later built the Temple.
First Sunday of Advent
The whisper of Advent
precedes historic time
with hint in Genesis,
when a champion was selected
for unlocking Paradise
and reestablishing
the harmony of humans
with God.
Thanksgiving Day
Aside from longing
for additional years,
our affluence sets a tone
for gratitude,
which recognizes
there is little more we need
and so we open wide
to the giver,
who dumps his gifts
so lavishly
we have no lap
or arm space left.