The 12th Day of Christmas: Reclaiming the incarnate word

Morning sun shining on the “pregnant Mary” on our house altar.

“...and the darkness has not overcome it.”

— John 1:5

Friends,

We have arrived at the 12 Day of Christmas! Some probably like me a bit exhausted from the walk, others eager to go on. So what shall we do with the manger, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the three wise men when the decoration is put away?  How to take Emmanuel, God with us, along with us into “ordinary time” (as the liturgical year has it)?

Today, on this Eve of Epiphany, I invite you to the last stop of our journey, namely to reclaim the living word, helped along by a wise woman, Hildegard of Bingen. (Tomorrow we will be back one more time with a farewell blessing.)

Already as a child I was drawn to the other narration of Divine birth, as the gospel of John has it, which is a far cry from the romantic (or romanticized) image of the nativity scene. Still it tells the same story. You might want to read it aloud and listen to its sound:

In the beginning was the Wo…