Who can truly understand
the space between Christmas and the Cross?
The incarnate Word
of God arriving as an infant,
And leaving us
as a Man,
Both human and
divine.
I received an
early Christmas card today,
It was shaped
as a cross,
The verse read,
“May the
miracle of Christmas,
Feel your heart
with joy, and peace.
110 calendar
days from this Christmas,
Until Good
Friday,
As I write this
poem,
In the Year of
Our Lord,
November 24,
2016,
Thanksgiving
Day.
254 calendar
days from the next Good Friday,
‘Till the next
Christmas of 2017,
Traversing 5
Holy Seasons,
Easter, Ordinary
Time, Advent, Christmas, and then Lent,
Culminating in
The Holy Tridium,
Followed in 50
days by Pentecost.
Passiontide
with Easter cards of its own,
Holy Saturday,
Good Friday,
3 days, Easter
Sunday,
A Liturgical Season
all its own.
‘Tis
Thanksgiving Day,
Reflecting on
my recent homecoming from The Holy Land,
The Via Dolorosa,
The Way of Pain,
A mere 48-minute
walk,
About 2 kilometers
from The Church of the Nativity,
33 years in
Christ’s lifetime,
A lifetime in
mine.
Christ
crucified outside the city’s gates,
A stone’s throw
away from the empty tomb,
Rising to new
life,
And ascending
to The Father.
November 27th,
The First Sunday of Advent,
Arrives soon,
The tree will
go up,
There will be
12 holy steps from the crib underneath,
To the crucifix
on the wall.
2 special ornaments
will adorn the tree,
One nativity
ornament made from olivewood brought home,
From Bethlehem,
And 1 old
cross, made from unknown wood,
Painted gold,
Filling the
space between Christmas, and the Cross.
The nativity
ornament acquired from a pilgrimage to Bethlehem,
12,000
kilometers between 7,500 miles away from my home town,
Of Phoenix,
Phoenix – the magical
bird – that dies, and is resurrected across the centuries,
A symbol of the
Resurrection.
Though the liturgy
changes,
The Mass
remains the same,
For Christmas,
and Easter,
The Holy
Sacrifice of the Altar,
Always stays
the same.
The space and
time existing between Christmas, and Easter,
Like the
magical bird,
Is eternally
resurrected in time, and space,
There is no
space between Christmas, and the Resurrection,
Our Resurrected
Lord – The same yesterday, today, and forever.
