Dandelion clock

"Come to Us, Emmanuel" from matthew leahy on Vimeo.

Dandelion clock

Hope is a dark elusive child
curled in the womb
cradled in our arms.
It can be lost,
disappear,
blown on the wind like a dandelion clock.

Its going,
its ebbing away
leaves us
grieving,
empty,
hopeless.

‘But’ is a hopeful word.

But even as the gossamer
powder puff
disintegrates,
the seeds are carried
to cling to distant crevices.
As it recedes
it reseeds
to grow again.

God, giver of peace,
grow hope within and around us.
God of steadfast love,
never leave us hopeless.

(From: The Pattern of our Days, The Iona Community)

Christmas

No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor.

   The self-sufficient, the proud, 
       those who, because they have everything, look down on others,
       those who have no need even of God --
   for them there will be no Christmas.

   Only the poor, the hungry,
       those who need someone to come on their behalf,
   will have that someone.

   That someone is God,
       Emmanuel, God-with-us.

   Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God...

-Archbishop Oscar Romero-