The Light of Your Face
by Fr. Larry Dowling
“This is the people who longs to see your face.” (Ps 24)
A star of unsurpassing brilliance shines, It’s rays a highway for angels to bear
Divine missives to temple priest, a virgin, a carpenter, and to three dreamers of messianic dreams …
A gentle, calming breeze caresses her face Humble maiden basking in fading angel glow. Silence. Sacred silence. Her ‘yes’ still lingering, Giving assent to Spirit pouring into every-fiber Of who she is and was ever-destined to be.
An elder man sits, silent, mute, now believing, while … Barren of doubt that with God all is possible, Two women joined by blood and destiny Kiss, embrace, while the stirring within each Heralds the demise of death’s dark grip, and The dawn of all humankind’s redemption.
Sadness, deep sadness consume humble craftsman A problem no hands nor tool can repair. The fatigue of battle twixt love and trust and law Gives surrender to sleep, opening a portal for angels To bear reassurance, to invite the willing adoption of the only begotten Son of God, the betrothal to Spirit and marriage to his betrothed.
And now the stage is set …
Like me, my friend, you harbor a longing A yearning knowing only occasional cease To seek and encounter the holy eternal, And, in its presence, to find lasting peace.
The journey begins with an unquestioning ‘yes’ A belief that, bound to God, all dreams can come true. In the surrender of self to a life that is selfless. In the embrace of the Divine ever-growing in you.
Your ‘yes’ may waver, you may stumble and fall, Like Zechariah, you may question God’s power, Like Joseph, you’ll struggle with law and love Behind rigid belief and ideals you may cower.
Like Bethlehem’s innkeepers, you may reject the Christ In the mother, the father, the child, the unborn
Those countless seeking to be counted, while
The world’s Herod’s level oppression and scorn.
Yet faithfully you must follow the dream,
To seek and encounter the face of the Divine.
Your ‘yes’ must be an assent to submit to the “YES”
Of Mary, of martyrs, of saints named and unnamed, The eternal “YES” uttered before the dawn of time.
You must traverse both crossroads and cross,
both joy and pain, both love and loss.
Your life must, like all wise women and men, ,
Risk radical loving, never regarding the cost.
You must humbly approach each human encounter With the desire to discover and the longing to find
The presence of the God whose image and likeness Dwells in creation’s very fabric, in all humankind.
Now, wait, can you hear it? The beckoning call?
Of Mary and Joseph, of angels hovering above?
Of shepherds, of wise ones, of martyrs and saints?
Of loved ones passed, now dwelling in pure Love?
“Come, kneel beside the manger,” they entreat you,
“Dwell upon God’s visage, look deeply into His eyes. Surrender to the power of pure, disarming Love.
Lose all ego, find your true self, exult with joyful cries!”
For deep within His blessed gaze is a mirror to your soul Where all is forgiven, cleansed and made new,
Where the heart of the Christ Child becomes your heart And God’s image and likeness shines uniquely thru you!
– Blessed Christmas!
Christmas, 2019