Mary Consoles Eve: A Christmas Poem

(Virgin Mary Consoles Eve, 

painted by Sister Grace Remington, OCSO, Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey)

I stand

Head bowed in shame, the weight of every sin upon my narrow back.

My sticky fingerprints, fruit-stained, sin-stained, are on it all,

From the bombs that fall on Aleppo

To the machetes wielded in Rwanda

To the yellow stars pinned on Jewish coats.

Our holiness tarnished now, from my fingers.

Unkind words, selfish thoughts, pride.

Fear. Because I broke the perfect love.

I cannot meet your eyes.

I did not trust

So now none of us is trustworthy.

I did not worship

Now we all worship ourselves.

I disobeyed.

I ruined His world.

I see you standing there,

Large with promise.

The mercy in your eyes mirrors the Mercy in your womb

And you say

Sister. He is coming. Feel His kicks.

He will take it all. He will kill the snake that bites our heels.

His shoulders are broad and His fingerprints holy.

And the weight of sin on us all will fall on Him instead.

You cannot break Perfect Love.

It is breaking through

For you.