Mary, Mother of God

Sometimes with my Christmas cards I include a favorite seasonal poem. So consider this post a greeting card for the season.

First, I can’t resist sharing the poem that has been my meditation this Advent. I always treasure Advent’s special spirit of hushed longing. This year I’ve found it expressed in a poem not written specifically for Advent: Robert Bly’s “The Roof Nail,” in his new collection Talking into the Ear of a Donkey.

Bly’s short poem ends:

During Advent, I’ve been meditating with those marvelous images of the “tiny roof nail” and the “little bone,” with their “aching for the roof” and “longing for heaven”—perfect images for our human condition.