St. Simeon – Benedict XVI Institute

New Poem: Nativity

Fr. Dwight Longenecker on December 18, 2019

Nativity

Forget your Christmas cards and little creche

the cutesy donkey, sheep and shepherd boys.

Put away the twinkle lights and all that trash;

the candy, carols, cards and tacky toys.

For there in your safe familiar manger

lies something that should shock and terrify—

a mewling, interstellar stranger,

an undercover agent—infant spy.

He promises to turn every table

and become an unrelenting master.

making the satisfied world unstable

and lashing the complacent with disaster.

Here shivers something unpredictable—

divine but defined, swaddled yet wild.

Here is something tender and terrible—

a feisty girl and her dangerous child.

Fr Dwight Longenecker is a parish priest, blogger, author, playwright and poet. Follow him at dwightlongenecker.com

New Poem: Simeon Speaks

Sarah Cortez on September 1, 2019

Simeon Speaks

One foot slipped out

when I reached and lay

him over the water

for purification.

When I reached and lay

his little body

for purification,

he was light, barely there.

His little body

glowed—a ripe peach—

he was light, barely there,

unsmiling, with dark eyes.

Glowing—a ripe peach—

he met my gaze, all

unsmiling, with dark eyes.

I saw—I knew—Eternity.

He met my gaze, and

then his mother’s eyes lifted.

I knew—I saw—Eternity,

and I saw swords.

Then his mother’s eyes lifted

that heart of hers,

and I saw swords,

blood dripping,

that heart of hers,

pierced and suffering.

Blood dripping

and the babe now bleeding,

pierced and suffering

in my arms, O God,

and the babe now bleeding

over Israel, over me.

In my arms, O God,

Your Messiah,

over Israel, over me,

one foot slipping out.