In Secret

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
—Matthew 6:1-6

If we have worked in darkness
and labored through the night,
how shall we taste the harvest
in your unending light?

We fear the dark's obscurance
of all our works and ways.
O God, give us endurance
and hope to see the day!

Look down on all that's hidden
and read the words we hide:
May all our acts live in you,
where even night is bright.

And in our darkest places,
our inmost, secret parts
help us to sing your praises
as you look on our hearts.

Then may we give in secret:
Our good work need not show
for surely you will see it—
though you alone may know.

And when you set your table
where all shall have their due,
Lord, make for us a place there,
that we may feast in you.

Title: “Blasts” from The Ram’s Horn Year: 1902 (1900s) Authors: Subjects: Poetry Publisher: Chicago, The Ram’s Horn Co.By Internet Archive Book Images – https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14781372921/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/blastsfromramsho00unse/blastsfromramsho00unse#page/n34/mode/1up, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42489652

Full of Light

The sun has long since set, O Lord,
and hidden is the light.
We long for you to come once more
and make these shadows bright.

Come kindle flame in all the hearts
that weep and watch and pray,
as numberless as heaven's stars
that wait to see your day.

And give us eyes to see their glow
across all heaven's arch,
to find that we are not alone
though they are aching far,

and see the space between the stars,
the emptiness and cold,
may be the streching of your arms
to gather in your fold.

Reach out more far, from east to west,
and farther, farther still,
each lonely star to touch and bless.
These empty spaces fill,

'til we find darkness full of lights—
the sun's unnumbered parts—
and find your glory fills the night
in countless burning hearts.

**NOTE:** This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in software. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form of digital manipulation. These manipulations may include blending, blurring, cloning, and colour and perspective adjustments. As a result of these adjustments, the image content may be slightly different from reality at the points where multiple images were combined. This manipulation is often required due to lens, perspective, and parallax distortions. Constellations, By Thomas Bresson – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31321172

Simeon

Now, Master, you may let your servant go
       in peace, according to your word,
   for my eyes have seen your salvation,
       which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
   a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
       and glory for your people Israel.
—Luke 2:22-32

Now, Master, let me go
according to your vow,
for I have seen the sky aglow,
the stars and planets bow.

The long-awaited light 
at last has touched my eyes.
I could not die while it was night,
who knew the sun would rise.

This dawn you have prepared
to drive away the dark;
it comes that all the world be spared,
and I have seen its spark.

So I may go in peace
where all my hope's concealed,
for sin retreats and sorrow flees,
now light has been revealed.

Though long you've lent me breath
I cannot pay the debt,
but I am not afraid of death:
This sun shall never set.

My hour at last comes due:
I go into the gloom,
but I have seen your word come true—
Its light will fill my tomb.

Presentation of Christ in the Temple, South German, likely altarpiece wing, late 15th century. (Private collection) By Anonymous – Photograph of old art work (>500 years old)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55999507

Refiner’s Fire

And suddenly there will come to the temple
   the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
   Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
   And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner’s fire,
   or like the fuller’s lye.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
   and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
   that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.
—Malachi 3:1-4

O come, refiner's fire;
now to your temple come
and with your fullness purify
our hands, our hearts, our tongues.

Like one who works in gold
and burns the dross away,
refine our senses to behold
your ever bright'ning day.

Yet we are fragile things
and cannot bear your heat:
Come as a spark, an infant gleam,
your heart with ours to beat,

to grow as we all grow
and show us day by day
the endless stream of light that flows
into your glory's blaze,

that we may learn to bear
the light and heat of truth,
to cast out fear and come to dare
to nearer draw to you.

Then, Lord, we shall endure
your bright eternal flame,
when love and mercy make us pure—
It was for this you came.

Candlemas day by Marianne Stokes, 1901 – https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stokes-candlemas-day-t02108, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1382468

Beacon

When my weary soul is aching
with the burden on me laid,
and I lose the road I'm taking
in the fading of the day,

light a beacon where you dwell here.
I'll lay down my heavy load
where you light shows me a shelter:
I will rest here from the road.

Lord, I know my way's been easy—
I'm not meaning to complain.
Nonetheless, my heart is bleeding:
Will you leave me in my pain?

For you travelled here before me
with no place to lay your head,
yet I'll find you in the morning
standing sentry by my bed.

Though I lay me down in shadow,
though I cannot find the light,
let me find your peaceful meadow
in the stillness of the night.

As you blessed the loaves and fishes
so your people could go on,
bless the coffee and the dishes
in the light of one more dawn.

Give me courage for the journey;
give me hope for journey's end.
Keep your beacon in me burning
when the darkness comes again.

Arkadi Monastery / Moni Arkadiou. Lamp in the church By Wouter Hagens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4170241

Another Way

And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed for their country by another way.
—Matthew 2:1-12

The star had heralded the dawn
but vanished in the day.
The road that led you there was gone—
you took another way.

The sigil had not ceased to burn;
the star shone out the same,
but you were no more what you were
who'd seen a brighter flame.

Up to that hour you'd known the night,
a sky where all was dim,
and now you stagger in the light—
all you had known dislimns.

The world of starlight breaks apart,
the pieces rearrange.
So, too, the fragments of your heart
beneath the infant's gaze.

You travelled far to look on him;
now he has looked at you:
You breath comes short; your vision swims;
your world is all made new.

And where there were no roads before,
new ways have opened wide.
The world itself an open door
spills out a glorious light.

Adoración de los Reyes Magos by El Greco, 1568 (Museo Soumaya, Mexico City) – Museo Soumaya Plaza Carso, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35846297

Bright Star

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.
—Isaiah 60:1-6

When wise men turn from learning
the strictures of the page
to seek a bright star burning,
an infant as their sage,
the wisdom of the ages
our wisdom crosswise turns:
a key unlocking cages,
the light for which we yearn.

Our ordering and knowing
have all been rearranged
by that one bright star glowing,
and we shall all be changed.
We shall no more flee danger,
but kings shall leave their thrones
to bow before a manger
when Christ is king alone.

Though now the way is hidden
and hope is pale and wan,
yet that bright star is given—
To us is born a son.
His brighter morn is coming
that never shall grow dim,
the sun of justice dawning:
Come, let us follow him!

Incised third century A.D. sarcophagus slab depicts the Adoration of the Magi, from the Catacombs of Rome – translated as, “Severa, may you live in God”, Severa being the woman buried in the sarcophagus and likely the figure to the left of the inscription. Photo By Giovanni Dall’Orto – Own work, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3926530

Christ Our Light Is Dawning

How beautiful upon the mountains
       are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,
   announcing peace, bearing good news,
       announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,
       “Your God is King!”
Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,
       together they shout for joy,
   for they see directly, before their eyes,
       the LORD restoring Zion.
   Break out together in song,
       O ruins of Jerusalem!
   For the LORD comforts his people,
       he redeems Jerusalem.
   The LORD has bared his holy arm
       in the sight of all the nations;
   all the ends of the earth will behold
       the salvation of our God.
—Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful the footsteps
and steady-beating heart 
that bring to us a good word
and say, “Here is your God!”

Now see what he is doing,
that never yet was seen.
Break into song, you ruined,
for you have been redeemed!

Our sentinels have told it—
O, hearken to their cry!—
and we, too, shall behold it,
the dawn that greets our eyes.

The empty places in us
where shadows made their home,
shine out as morning fills us,
for lo! Our light has come!

For all the days we hungered,
new feasts will fill our lack.
All that was taken from us
will someday be led back.

Stand up and greet the morning,
the promise coming true.
For Christ our light is dawning
and mercy is made new!

Aci Castello Sicily Italy – Creative Commons by gnuckx By gnuckx, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53170013

Morning Star

Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
—2 Peter 1:19

It sits just below the horizon,
steadfast as we're losing the light;
what changes the world at its rising
now waits for the coming of night.

And we who have waited in darkness
and watched as the light fades away,
we see even now the first stars out
with us keeping vigil for day.

As midnight draws nearer and nearer
the shadows grow deeper than deep,
but in them we see all the clearer
the longing that draws us from sleep

to wait with a hushed expectation
that knows every shadow must pass
the gleam of the world's restoration,
the light breaking on us at last.

And all who have waited to see it
cry out with the strength it imparts,
“Shine out, holy light, from your zenith!
O morning star, rise in our hearts!”

Venus is always brighter than the brightest stars outside the Solar System, as can be seen here over the Pacific Ocean, Photo By Brocken Inaglory – File:Venus with reflection.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5223759

As They Who Burned Before Us

For Allhallowtide:

As they who burned before us
enkindled with your love
shone out your grace and glory,
so may we shine, O God.

Some glowed in chambers hidden;
some lit the sky like stars,
and all of them your children 
afire as your own heart.

For some your made as tinder
so quick to catch the spark,
and some you slowly kindle
who longest light the dark,

and some forever aching
hold light we never view,
but all are of your making
and all are made for you.

You made us to be embers:
Then touch us with the flame
that every saint remembers,
that never burns the same.

And someday you will show us
how every spark's inspired:
Your own eternal glory
that sets each heart afire.

All Souls’ Day, J Schikaneder 1888. This oil painting shows an elderly woman praying after placing a wreath upon the tombstone of her loved one. – Ophelia2, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12453561