Again the darkness is past; again Light is made. . . . Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to the front. The shadows flee away, the Truth comes in upon them. . . . For God was manifested to man by birth. On the one hand Being, and eternally Being, of the Eternal Being, above cause and word, for there was no word before The Word;
We do have other images we might imagine for “an organic communion.” We might, for example, think about the vine and the branches. It speaks to us of growth that is rooted in Christ, but that can lead in a variety of directions. It speaks to us of fruitfulness, and can connect in our reflections to the blood of Christ, which we receive in the Eucharist and in which we are cleansed from sin.
Grant us your light, O Lord,
that the darkness in our hearts
being wholly passed away,
we may come at last to the light
which is Christ.
In the Celtic tradition, this daily celebration of the coming of the light of each day then became a daily reminder of heaven, of the future light of eternity:
Tom Ehrich, a well known nationally syndicated columnist and Episcopal priest, writes this month’s column on Vestry practices. He makes a pretty serious call for change in the way we operate.
Two sisters, convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to life imprisonment are at the center of controversy now that Governor Haley Barbour decided to suspend
We’ve seen a veritable cornucopia of “top 10 lists” over the past weeks (including ours here on the Café). But there’s not been much analysis
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The Christmas Feast is already a fading memory,
And already the mind begins to be vaguely aware
Of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought
Of Lent and Good Friday which cannot, after all, now
Be very far off.
Elizabeth Seton did not live long ago and far away. She died a little over 150 years ago. New York, Baltimore, and the Maryland countryside were the setting for her work and growth in holiness. She was a wife and mother, a religious sister and educator, a woman who faced crises and setbacks which she surmounted by love, devotion, and openness to the grace of God. In proclaiming her a saint, the Church invites each of us to respond like her to the challenges in our own life.