The Third Joyful Mystery

They wait
through the world’s last hours of loneliness.
The Virgin mother holds him in her womb
with love beyond all telling.

And then -
a Child is born to us,
a Son is given to us.
Emmanuel,

how can it be,
that God is with us.
These two, now three,
are gathered -
and he is here as he promised.

Beauty has wrapped himself
in a veil
that we might see him,
when the veil is rent
and we stand in the Holy of Holies,

there to rest
and pour out our gifts at his feet
and shed tears of myrrh and gold,
and gaze on the one we have pierced
and our prayers will rise like incense.

O come let us adore him!

Glory to God in the highest!
O come let us see this thing
which the Lord has told us.
A mother’s joy,
a Mighty Savior,
the Lion of Judah,
already a lamb.

A child unafraid at the adder’s den
a tiny bush aflame with divinity
yet never consumed.
God is in our midst!