This year there is only a day between the candle of Joy and the candle of love. This week embraces saying “Yes!” to daily tasks and requests. Saying yes with joy and no regrets. Hard for me to do. The example of Jesus becoming man to live and die for others is a hard act to follow. Mary, Jesus’s mother, was able to live and die in union with God’s will.
In my life, I have only come close to this joyful yes one time.
I was in my mid-twenties. I was a teacher of mentally challenged girls at a residential school run by the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence. Living at home, I had limited opportunities to meet men socially.
On my 26th birthday, I was shepherding a group of girls at Mass. I started to cry as I prayed to understand what life path I should follow.
A voice neither male nor female filled my mind.
“Before your next birthday, you will be married.”
I was astonished.
“How can this be?”
” I have no relations with a man.”
“Have faith.” was the reply.
Looking back, I felt a little foolish but the belief was strong and direct. I have never forgotten it.
After that day, I allowed myself to be open to others and opportunities that were presented in my life. I taught catechism to eight graders. Joining a community theater group, I found friends of all ages. A girl friend invited me to travel with a single group to take the train for a long weekend in Toronto . Most of the group were retired, except for my friend and a man in his thirties named Mike. We palled around to see the sights and Mike became my husband the next October, two weeks before my next birthday.
Other memories have faded from that time but the incident in the church and voice remains a vivid memory.
We were married almost ten years. The child I was promised and longed for came with my second husband, John. Saying yes was the hardest and most joyful path I could take. I still ponder what if I had not said yes to God’s call?
Brilliant
by Carol Farnsworth
Vivid
Sparkles in sun.
streaks of morning glows bright.
Earth created, rivals the stars.
embers.
Bright thoughts
Placed in phrases.
weaving a word picture.
unique to the poet’s process.
breathing.
Nights chill,
fog lifts, dew kissed.
Warming hands, sparks a poem.
Though blind, dawn’s light touches me with
brilliance.
Brilliant an acrostic
Bathed in moonlight, Mary shifts on the donkey.
Raising his eyes Joseph spies a rough stable set into the hillside.
Issuing a sigh, Mary is lifted from the beast’s back.
laying the cloaks in the straw, Joseph prays.
“Lord, Keep Mary and the child safe.”
“it is all right Joseph, He will soon be here.”
Angels sing , announcing the Good News.
Noel echos across the hilltops and heaven.
” This day a Savior is born”
Each day we welcome Emmanuel into our hearts anew.
carolaspot@aol.com. Dec. 23, 2023
traveling up and down the blind highway 