"The apple tree spread wide it's shade
To shield the garden from the sun;
In dappled light the Virgin prayed
That, cloud or clear, God's will be done."
This adorable calf with the blue tag against the blue watertank - makes you want to paint him!
"The apple blossoms frothed and fell
In pools of white about her feet,
Wing-brushed when heaven came to tell
Of earth's release from sin's defeat.
She trod the blossoms to the ground,
For she would bear a finer fruit
Whose flesh would make the sick grow sound
And heal the wounded world at root.
The apples on the market stall
Are tempting to the eye and tongue,
But her fruit has surpassed them all:
High praise to Christ, our life, be sung!"
the hymn can be sung to the tune used for - The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky
I guess I just have a very early case of spring fever, and this really spoke to me this morning of the LIFE and LIGHT that this humble Virgin brought into our world. After being in the "desert" of Lent for these last 5 weeks, and to have the warmth of the sun and the greening of the world outside... it all just clicked inside of me this morning of the Feast of the Annunciation! Such a gloriously wonderful day..."The annunciation heralds the beginning of our salvation. By Mary's obedient "Fiat," the earth has become heaven. 'In Jesus, God has placed, in the midst of barren, despairing mankind, a new beginning which is not a product of human history but a gift from above.' (Pope Benedict XVI) All that our heart cried out for became flesh in Mary's womb. When we repeat the words of the angel by praying the Hail Mary, the Word of God germinates in our soul." Wow! This is so powerful to consider, and brings all those Hail Marys that get me through each and every day so important and life-giving!
Early morning a few days ago, just after the rain.. the raindrops on the branches and the new apple leaves and then the blossoms come forth... Spring was coming forth to my delight and captured by the lens of my camera! As I approached this small apple tree in the middle of our yard, I was almost thinking that I would see some blossoms, but I am really ahead of myself but always hopeful and yearning!
I went to find an appleblossom picture - here Mary is just a month old on May 15, 2006... she will be 6 in a few weeks! The appleblossoms and lilacs are just on schedule - It always seems that just about Mother's day they are at their best! It was a wonderful gift to find this picture for today, as I am deep in prayer for Ruth to have a safe delivery of her 4th child in the next month. Her C-section is set for May 1st, but they will be monitoring her to get the baby here safely as soon as it seems good for her and the baby. Prayers are very much surrounding the two of them at this point, and all the way from when we first found out that they were expecting!
Lord Jesus with your Queen Mother of heaven and earth at your side.. Life is such an amazing gift! We praise you and honor you for allowing us to embrace the LIFE and LOVE of the universe in that life that we hold within our arms. You have come to earth to show us how to love you, and to follow after you carrying our Most Cherished Cross! We are forever grateful to Mary Most Holy for saying her "Yes" and becoming the Mother of God as well as of Heaven and Earth! "Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus." We love the Word of God that germinates in our soul, and we carry HIM forth into our domestic church - our family! May we always say a humble "Yes" to all that you ask of us in our lives and in our families as we share your LOVE and LIFE! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb"Thus had she found her Beloved. She had penetrated the sovereign majesty with her sweetness; she had wounded the eternal wisdom with her comeliness; she had drawn to herself the eternal goodness with her love. Thus had God poured into her with all his infinititude of being, and thus had he placed her over his Kingdom. She did not live her own self, but she lived only to him who is the life of all the living. All her beginnning and ending, all her doing and not doing, was in God, and was full of purely divine intention. For she was ever united to God, turning away from his holy presence never a single instant...
Poor, clean, interior,Godlike, more a creature of heaven than of earth was Mary. In her spirit she was a paradise of God's, God's heaven in her soul, God's palace in her body. God's light shone through and through her. Between her soul and God there was union..."
Fr John Tauler (1361)
The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared to a Window - Written in 1944
"Because my will is simple as a window
And knows no pride of original birth,
It is my life to die, like glass, by light:
Slain in the strong rays of the bridegroom sun.
Because my love is simple as a window
And knows no shame of original dust,
I longed all night, (when I was visible) for dawn my death:
When I would marry day, my Holy Spirit:
And die by transsubstantiation into light.
For light, my lover, steals my life in secret.
I vanish into day, and leave no shadow
But the geometry of my cross,
Whose frame and structure are the strength
By which I die, but only to the earth,
And am uplifted to the sky my life.
When I became the substance of my lover,
(Being obedient, sinless glass)
I love all things that need my lover's life,
And live to give my newborn Morning to your quiet rooms,
-Your rooms, that would be tombs,
Or vaults of night, and death, and terror,
Fill with the clarity of living Heaven,
Shine with the rays of God's Jerusalem:
O shine, bright Sions!
Because I die by brightness and the Holy Spirit,
The sun rejoices in your jail, my kneeling Christian,
(Where even now you weep and grin
To learn, from my simplicity, the strength of faith).
Therefore do not be troubled at the judgements of the thunder,
Stay still and pray, still stay, my other son,
And do not fear the armies and black ramparts
Of the advancing and retreating rains:
I'll let no lightning kill your room's white order.
Although it is the day's last hour,
Look with no fear:
For the torn storm lets in, at the world's rim,
Three streaming rays as straight as Jacob's ladder:
And you shall see the sun, my Son, my Substance,
Come to convince the world of the day's end, and of the night,
Smile to the lovers of the day in smiles of blood;
For though my love, He'll be their Brother,
My light - the Lamb of their Apocalypse."
It just seemed the time to share this poem by Thomas Merton - how it takes me back to my early romantic wonderful days of first discovering the Glorious Catholic Church and falling madly in LOVE with it! Thank you, Lord, I praise you to the highest heavens! Bless-bless
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