Once upon a time

All grace comes precisely from nowhere—from silence and emptiness, if you prefer—which is what makes it grace. It is both you and yet so much greater than you at the same time, which is probably why believers chose both uprushing fountains (John 7:38) and downrushing doves (Matthew 3:16) as metaphors for this universal and grounding experience of spiritual encounter. Sometimes it is an uprush and sometimes it is a downrush, but it is always from a silence that is larger than you, surrounds you, and finally names the deeper truth of the full moment that is you. I call such a way of knowing the contemplative way of knowing, as did much of the older tradition. (The word “prayer” has been so consistently trivialized to refer to something you do, instead of something that is done to you, with you, in you, and as you.) Then, like Mary, you are ready to give birth. You are ready for Christmas.

                                                                                                                                                Richard Rohr

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the story is nothing if not odd

full as it is of the oh so common

of the little moments of daily life

of sheep grazing

and shepherds sleeping

of merchants selling

and people rushing through the streets

intent on getting to the butchers

before it closes

or perhaps simply intent on getting home

to whatever safety and warmth

poverty offered

but it is full of the uncommon common as well

of travelers arriving

of babies being born

(babies are born all the time, and it is always miraculous)

But of a baby being born who

Somehow moved from miracle to miracle

and then there is the just plain strange

angel choirs?  Really?

Pronouncements from angels who really should have known better?

People pulled from their routine

To witness the routine (yet another baby)

This whole tangled story comes from outside us

From something bigger

One might even say infinite

And comes from within us

From that which is simply part of who we are

That sacred reality we carry as those created

From the Sacred

In the image of the sacred

Deep calling to deep

Downrushing

Uprushing

Something important happened that night

Love was born

Something happens again and again

Love is born

Amen