A St. Stephen's Day Acrostic

Stephen means crown, and worthily
The first who bore the martyr's crown
Ever will Stephen named be
Praised by all men in every town.
He bravely told his faith in Christ
And shed his blood on Israel's sod;
Nobly his life he sacrificed;
Eternally he reigns with God.

This is an acrostic of the Greek name of St. Stephen - the word for crown.

Midnight Mass

This is late, alas! but better than never; my Christmas poem.

The incense fills the midnight air,
A scented song, a perfumed prayer;
And rich and sweet in harmony
The choir's carols rise, and flee.
This night, the dearest night of all,
When Christ was cradled in a stall,
We kneel to celebrate again
And hear once more the angel strain:
"All glory be to God on high,
And peace to good-willed men," we cry
And in the silence of the night
The angels echo from the height
To praise, to bless, to glorify,
To give thanks for God's glory high.
Blest may this night forever be
When Christ was born of Mary free!

Gaudete!

As yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, here's the next poetical offering...

The ground is buried deep beneath the snows,
But here, within the church's golden gloom,
A flower of flame above us is in bloom -
The glowing Advent-wreath's rejoicing-rose.
It blossoms in the vestments, and it flows
Through the translucent windows of the room;
It weaves the sunlight, like Our Lady's loom,
Into a flaming chasuble that glows
Color of rose, lit by a flame divine,
The color of rejoicing, sweet and fair,
Calling us to be glad in Jesu's name;
And, as the Advent-candles softly shine,
We lift our hearts to Jesus with a prayer
To light them all with his Gaudete-flame.

Inés de Erausquin.

The REAL First Thanksgiving!

Father Soos gave us this link; lo and behold, the Pilgrims did not institute Thanksgiving! :)

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20071121/d_cover21_thanks.art.htm

Happy feast day to me

Today is the feast of St. Lucy, patroness of eyesight. Today for some reason the Swedish and others begin their Christmas decorating (we do it on the Immaculate Conception, which you could say is when God started His); I think it is because Lucis is "of Light" in Latin, so they begin preparations for the coming of the Light of the World, by whom the blind see, as well. So she really is quite a fitting precursor. I am posting an icon of her that I made a while ago.

For the Star Wars fans

Your results:You are Qui-Gon Jinn



Overall, you're a pretty well balanced person. But maybe you focus a little too much on the here and now. Think about the future before it’s too late.

Qui-Gon Jinn --70%
Mace Windu --70%
Lando Calrissian --69%
Han Solo --66%
Obi-Wan Kenobi --64%
Chewbacca --63%
Darth Maul --63%
R2-D2 --59%
Emperor Palpatine --56%
Boba Fett --56%

(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters)

I would have said Obi-Wan, but I guess I'm not short and reckless enough.

Click here to take the "Which Star Wars character am I?" quiz...