Radiant Leaven in the Dough

On this, the twelfth and last day of Christmas, I offer a couple of poems by Br. Roger of Taize. They remind us, as the carol has it, "No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in." And that we who rejoice to sing of the hope and peace and joy wrought by the birth of the Baby Jesus are called to embody that hope and peace and joy by the power of his Spirit to those around us.

O Christ,
you offer us a Gospel treasure;
you place in us a unique gift –
the gift of bearing your life.
But, to make it clear
that the radiance comes from you
and not from us,
you have placed this incomparable gift
in vessels of clay,
in hearts which are poor.
You come to make your home
in the frailty of our beings,
there and nowhere else.
In this way, we know not how,
you make us, poor and vulnerable as we are,
the radiance of your presence
for those around us.


Lord Christ
the mystery of your presence is beyond price,
and mysterious the road on which you wait
to lead us to the Father.
Even when we understand
so little of your life,
your Spirit who dwells in our hearts
makes God
comprehensible to us.
And you work a miracle:
you make us into living stones
in your body, your church.
O Christ, you are Love,
and you do not want us to be judges
who stand on the outside and condemn,
but rather leaven in the dough
of every community,
and of the human family –
a ferment able to raise the enormous weight
of all that has become stiff and hardened.

The First Day of Christmas: How God Brings His Love to Bear