Tag: Christ
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Trying so hard to be ordinary
It’s a weird calendar this year for us church folk. Christmas Eve was on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, and Ash Wednesday will be on Valentine’s Day again. This past Saturday, January 6, was the Feast of the Epiphany—a feast you would think would be transferred to the nearest Sunday,…
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Among Women, Blessed
The following poem, for a long time while I kept revising it, bore the working title, “Closing in on Christmas.” I’m glad my poetry group agreed I should change the title once it found its final form. And now that we’re deep into Christmas, why don’t I share my Advent…
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“And the Word Became Flesh”
Back to poems! And stay tuned for a special announcement at the end of this post. This poem was published August 25, 2022 in Earth & Altar Magazine. Elaine Elizabeth BelzAND THE WORD BECAME FLESH O, Bread my tonguehas taken and my teethhave crushed: leave your imprintdeep in my molars,…
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Full Circle
Today is the second and last time this century that Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation fall on the same day. Historically, though, they’re linked. In the earliest centuries of the Church, the death and resurrection of Christ were observed, but Christ’s birth was not. However, the symbolic…
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Being there
“I probably shouldn’t be grinning on Good Friday,” I said to the Dean after today’s Good Friday service. But one of the features of bipolar illness is that sometimes you just aren’t in charge of your emotions. On a day like today, when I’m teetering on the edge of hypomania,…
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Christmas and Martyrdom: St. Stephen’s Day
Happy second day of Christmas! And happy St. Stephen’s Day. St. Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He was also a deacon, one of seven chosen and ordained by the twelve Apostles to serve those in need. He also preached and “worked wonders,” which made him some very powerful enemies.…
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A brief Advent reflection
Advent’s just begun. Ordinary Time closed with a celebration of Christ the King; now we’re waiting for that King to be born…while at the same time, looking for him to “come again in glory.” Even while Christmas preparations must be done, we hold those celebrations at bay during this strange…
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Christ the King
In 1925, Pope Pius XI introduced the feast of Christ the King, which was meant as a reminder, amid the encroachments of secularization, that Christ is our Sovereign, reigning over all peoples in all places and all times—indeed, over all creation. Such a small vision, really. True, it’s a step…
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Wrestling with angels
This past Sunday (October 20), many of us who use the Revised Common Lectionary heard the wonderful story of Jacob wrestling with the “angel”: The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He…
The Sound 