Christmas

Are you not mine who art the whole world's lover?

Can I not find you in all winds that blow,

In the wild loneliness of lark and plover,

In slender shadow trees upon the snow?

--Sister M. Madeleva (1887-1964)

Advent

Trample my courts no more!

Your new moons and festivals I detest,

they weigh me down....

Make justice your aim....

Cease doing evil, learn to do good....

Though your sins be as scarlet,

they may become white as snow.

---Isaiah, Chapter 1

Psalm 11

"For what is our great stay and consolation amid the perturbations of this world? The truth and justice of God. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; His countenance doth behold the upright (Psalm 11:7). Accordingly, when we witness the inequalities of the present world, we comfort ourselves by reflecting that they will be put right in another. St. Paul tells us that he that cometh to God, must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)."

--Blessed John Henry Newman.