Bearing Christ into the New Year
“Each of us,” says St. John of the Cross,
is called to be “the midwife of God” in the world. Each of us!
Last year at this time, I shared St. John’s extraordinary poem, “If You Want,” as a meditation and prayer for the New Year.
I share it here once again, with best wishes for peace and joy in 2015,
to all readers of Hope Sings.
If You Want
St. John of the Cross
If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road
pregnant with the holy, and say,
“I need shelter for the night,
please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.”
Then, under the roof of your soul,
you will witness the sublime intimacy,
the divine, the Christ, taking birth forever,
as she grasps your hand for help,
for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.
Yes there, under the dome of your being
does creation come into existence eternally,
through your womb, dear pilgrim – the sacred womb of your soul,
as God grasps our arms for help:
for each of us is his beloved servant, never far.
If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street
pregnant with Light and sing.
What would it be to live in this New Year as if we believed it?
For now – and why not now? – is come again the fullness of time, and each of us, with our Yes, like unto Mary, a gateway to heaven.
May Christ, the prince of mercy and peace, come to birth in our lives in this New Year, through the labor of our hands and the gift of our hearts.
And may we see his face shining in the faces of everyone we meet.
A blessed New Year to you and yours!
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