Each, the Midwife of God
“Each of us,” says St. John of the Cross,
is called to be “the midwife of God” in the world. Each of us!
How desperately, it seems, our weary world needs the Great Joy promised in the birth of the Christ Child, whose divine light yearns to spark and flame forth in each of us.
Once again this year I am moved to share with Hope Sings readers St. John of the Cross’s breathtaking poem, “If You Want,” as a meditation and prayer for these closing days of 2015 and the beginning of the new liturgical year.
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 awake each morning and greet the new day
as if God wanted to show us this great secret, this most “sublime intimacy”?
For now, says St. John – and why not now? – is come again the fullness of time,
and each of us, with our Yes, becomes 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, not least our own.
A blessed Christmas and holy New Year to you and yours!
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