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COSTLY GIFT

The world spins, whirls
     in oval procession around the great fire.
The world spins, whirls
in one continuing act of being born.
 
Earth spins. Yet,
     in the heart's deepest recess
          a shudder disturbs our sleep.
Is earth spinning—out of control?
 
Were woman, man, flesh and bone, blood and breath
     made for this—
          roar of guns, fire of a different sort,
          the slaying of Abel renewed in endless compulsion?
          The city of God in ruins?
 
With trembling hands, we lift this fractured globe in prayer.
What, we ask, has become of the Wondrous Exchange,
     the wedding of heaven with earth,
          God with us,
          spirit with flesh,
          friend with foe?
     Has even this strayed from its orbit?
 
Suddenly, during our night-turning,
     in this blood-soaked world of Cain
     (Bethlehem is here or nowhere),
hope's promise is born again,
     Christ, Sun of Justice,
     a meteor forever flaring among us
          in an exchange of gifts more costly
          than we can imagine.
A Fire no darkness can extinguish.
O admirabile comercium! O wondrous exchange!

- Brother Philip

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WINTER KOANS
Winter is	cold
we	sense
how	bold
underneath	all
it	holds
a green river	runs
even beavers	cannot
control
- Brother Columba
Full moon on a winter's nite bends needles of a balsam tree   - Brother Columba

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WATCHING

Watching this November sky
Turn itself to marble white,
And the chilling wind
Play among the fallen leaves,
To turn this dull day
Into a dance, and, as if to say
Goodbye to the fickle summer,
I follow the lead of the happy leaves
And feel safe to let go of time
And to sail with the gusts of wind
Into what this next fall day of waiting
Will bring.

- Brother Augustine

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A CLEAR EVENING

On a clear evening, in early winter,
The warm sun, with its brilliant
Reflection upon the first snows,
Has set,—and left
An orange-red glow
Above the stilled trees,
As if to speak of what has passed,
And more,—to hold our hearts
In waiting for what is still to come.

- Brother Augustine

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BLOOD-RED-ROSE

From distant darkness
far beyond our knowing
darts a star
     across the horizon of our lives
      a light like a blossom
      that blooms and fades;
a light that dies
      and rises again
      from beneath the frozen snow of destiny
      of human love and hate and fear;
 
A one-time gift
      that never fails
      to reappear;
that once-for-all-rejected
      offers itself
      again and yet again.
 
Blood-Red-Rose
      cut from stump and stem
      of Jesse's tree—
      God's Gift set free
      for all humanity.
 
From far beyond the stars
      and cosmic dreams;
from farthest reaches of space and time,
your word is sent, O God,
      to set our hearts ablaze
      to turn another page
      of history.
 
We the deaf the blind the lame,
the naked and the homeless;
we wait again and yet again
to hear your healing Word of Peace:
Emmanuel.

- Brother John