I BELIEVE IN JESUS
DAWN OF ETERNAL DAY
Very early on the 8th of December, I turn on the light and prepare a cup of tea. What is that outside? A strange brightness. Of course, it is close now to the summer solstice in this part of Earth. At 4.55 am this is dawn. With my cuppa brewed I sit down but not before switching off the electric lamp and opening the window drapes. It felt so special as this new morning began that I found myself spontaneously beginning to sing the first verse of a well-known song:
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world.
I take a few sips of my cuppa tea and sing it again. It is quite bright now, and I recall this day in the Catholic Calendar is dedicated to a very special new beginning, the first moment in a new life - of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
God is there with his blessing for the newly conceived child of Joachim and Anne the future grandparents of the one in whom I would come to believe.
I also believe that on them were gifted many divine graces to love, watch over, and educate their Mary, to become Mother of my God.
God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth
The angel came to her saying:
The Lord is with you and has greatly
blessed you!
Saint Anselm in Readings today:
'Virgin Mary, all nature is blessed in you.'
'Blessed Lady,
sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night
– everything that is subject to the power and use of man
– rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty
and are
endowed with inexpressible new grace.'
