Stand in the winter’s cold
Where the warmth of animals surrounds the mother’s
love,
And distant calls of shepherds,
Fresh from angels’ songs
Echo ancient stories of promise.
Unseen observer,
You are circled by centuries of saints,
Companion to martyrs on Rome’s bloody sands,
Wise teachers who shaped eloquent creeds,
Kings, queens, commoners, hermits, preachers,
Brave women who crossed seas,
Popes, too—shy now in the encircling darkness.
Beyond them in the shadows
Stand nomads with leathered faces full of fidelity,
The brooding prophets satisfied and smiling,
And the sinner-king, robed in ancestral pride.
They all come home tonight
And take one deep, ageless breath
As the great story’s relentless pace
Pauses
In the pinpoint moment
Of God born into our world.
—from the book Advent with the Saints: Daily Reflections
by Greg Friedman, OFM
