Hopie's Christmas Poem

Hypostasis

With his infant hands,
All stars are held in place.
The brightest one stands
To shine upon the face
Of Him who expands
And orders all matter in space.
So emptied---into finite man,
Here born, lays Eternal Grace.
Bound now within time’s span;
His flesh-clad feet will trace
An ancient redemptive plan
To re-create Adam’s race
With His Infinite Hands.


Hope Ellen Rapson

Restoring the Divine Image

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi 3:3

This verse says so much about God’s patience and care for us. Having been made in God's image and likeness, we are being purified so that that image may be fully evident.

One woman in a Bible study offered to find out what this verse from Malachi means and to report back to the group. The woman made an appointment to watch a silversmith work, expressing her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched, the silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, the silver had to be held in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all impurities.

She asked the silversmith if he had to sit in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that he had to sit there holding the silver and had to keep his eyes on the silver during the entire process because if the silver is left in the flames a moment too long, it will be destroyed.

The woman then asked, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined? The silversmith smiled and answered, "That's easy. When I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the fire, imagine that God is watching and will continue to watch over you until He sees His image in you.

A Blessed Advent to All

This evening marks the beginning of Advent, a time of preparation for the Christ-Mass or the Festival Eucharist of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. His coming into the world is truly the greatest spiritual and material wonder and yet it is overlooked or denied by the world to which He came. Even good Christians fail to take time to ponder this wonderous miracle of timeless God entering time, of Creator God becoming one with His creation. I hope that you will take time away from the commerical hustle and bustle to contemplate the implications of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus.

Here is a poetic prayer from St. Ambrose of Milan, freshly translated from the Latin by my dear friend Ephrem Hugh Bensusan. Ephrem maintains an informative blog, which you may view at http://razilazenje.blogspot.com


Christe, redemptor omnium

Christ, Redeemer of all,
out of the Father, and with the Father one,
alone before the beginning
born ineffably.

Thou art the light, the brilliance of the Father,
Thou art the perennial hope of all,
to Whom Thy servants in the world
direct the estate of their prayers.

Remember, O Author of Salvation,
how in taking on our flesh
from the unstained Virgin,
Thou wast born in our form.

So doth today testify,
as well the circling years,
that Thou alone hast come from the Father
for the Salvation of the world.

The sky, the earth, the sea,
and all that lieth therein,
to the Author of Thine Advent
chant exultantly in praise.

And also we, who
Thy holy blood hast ransomed,
on this day of Thy Nativity
join together in a new hymn.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord,
Thou Who was born of a virgin,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
unto ages everlasting.

Original Latin Text