Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Winter solstice
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Third Week of Advent
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My lover speaks. He says to me, “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!
For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!”
What kind of reading is this for December 21? Today is the winter solstice! Music plays in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to ring in the winter. Chimes jangle the frigid air, and we struggle to celebrate the seasons as our breath fogs the windows. I look outside. It’s all snow and ice.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
But no. Jesus calls me: open your eyes to the deep spring, invisible but just as real as all this winter. Listen to the song of the dove. So much is happening under the snow. Protected soil rests around the tulip buds, the daffodils and winter wheat, silent till the warmth sets them rushing upward toward the sun. The breath of God heats them all into a growing place which is coming, is coming, is coming.
Now suddenly today the days grow longer. Longer now with ice and snow, but not forever, not for all. Jesus beckons to the sun. There will be spring, and summer, and the grain will grow again. And we grow too, season by season with our maker and our Source. “Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come.”
Lover Jesus, you are holy. Lord Jesus Christ, you are fully human. Baby Jesus, you are coming.
Lyrics: http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh221.sht
Song (James Taylor): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzvyh8u8Qak and Susan Boyle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZGpgEUSm3c
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1217
