Word in the Hand

Gospel of Luke The angel Gabriel said to Mary, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply  disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the h...

O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. As a rule; I am not particularly afraid of the dark; in fact it has been a solace and a haven for me in much of my life. Strange noises and the suspicious shapes in the shadows tell me that there are many  things outside my imagining and they are often not to be feared. Those of you who share the experience of these periods of insomnia and broken sleep may or may not agree with me but it is in those times that I have generally got to know myself, and my God, better.  it is in the darkness that we reveal our little selves, without embarassment or shame - we weep until our eyes throb with the saltiness of grief - grind our teeth with anguish or anger  - groan at our helplessness- for who is there to see? In the darkness we are able to hurl our fears and regrets at what may feel like a closed door or a strong embrace. It is the confe...

Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswo...