The warrior seeks a baptism of repentance, a “kind solace in a dying hour… Know thou the secret of a spirit Bow’d from its wild pride into shame… O craving heart, for the lost flowers And sunshine of my summer hours! The undying voice of that dead time, With its interminable chime, Rings, in the spirit of a spell, Upon thy emptiness- a knell. I have not always been as now: The fever’d diadem on my brow I claim’d and won usurpingly-Hath not the same fierce heirdom given Rome to the Caesar- this to me? The heritage of a kingly mind,… It was but man, who shed Laurels upon me… When, on the mountain peak, alone, Ambition lent it a new tone… The world, and all it did contain… That was new pleasure… I was ambitious- have you known The passion… boyhood is a summer sun Whose waning is the dreariest one-For all we live to know is known, And all we seek to keep hath flown… A voice came… A humbler heart… Love, Who daily scents his snowy wings… Whose pleasant bowers are yet so riven Above with trellis’d rays from Heaven, No mote may shun- no tiniest fly-The lightning of his eagle eye-How was it that Ambition crept, Unseen, amid the revels there, Till growing bold, he laughed and leapt In the tangles of Love’s very hair? (Tamerlane – Edgar Allen Poe)
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, keep us wise about the rulers of this world and the child-like qualities like love they lack.
Question: What is the repentance that is mine to make if I want to live the love of this season?
December 8, 2024 Gospel Luke 1:1-6 Second Sunday of Advent