A Season of Visions

And in this season

we call Christmas and Holidays,

Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, Germany’s

Saint Nicholas’ Day, and the Philippines’

Giant Lantern Festival, Columbia’s

Day of Little Candles, and Toronto’s

Cavalcade of Lights, France’s

Joyeux Noël, and Russia’s Grandfather Frost,

let us find unity, cooperation, friendship.

Let us revel in the pretty lights and the decorated trees,

the wintry days and the cozy nights,

the happy faces and the party fun.

Let us feel the grief of the losses of others,

the struggling families in an unbalanced

economy, the addicted caught in some

endless torment, the shamed haunted by

a long-ago abuse, the ill unable to enter

into the many festivities, the lonely shut off

from the busy happy crowds, the prisoners

locked in their regrets and dishonor, the

mentally infirm whose minds no longer work

and whose memories have lost their power.

It is a season of birth, of lights, of glory.

It is a time to remember the dead, to honor

the living, to celebrate, to be generous; a time

to embrace one another, to hug someone warmly,

to smile into the eyes of children; a time to look

beyond the many cruelties and the abasement of people.

A time to see the vision of Jesus fulfilled in our hearts,

not of righteous elites but humbled humans

blundering along, seeking a Star to guide us, exploring

the enduring and inexpressible mystery of love.

The Unclad Soul