On the darkest hour of the darkest day
When lust for power corrupted the best
And people willingly traded their souls
For the right to rule and ride roughshod
Over the foreigner, the poor, the Other,
It is then, always then, that holy Wisdom
Explodes silently upon an unsuspecting world.

The Great Divider, undeterred, sets rich
Against poor, well-fed against hungry,
Neighbor against neighbor,
And one’s enemy is within one’s home.
The Great Deceiver upends the world
Declaring evil good and good bad
Calling truth lies and lies worthy of belief
Displacing, wherever possible, even God.

Somewhere in a distant land subdued
And oppressed by those who kill and Plunder in the name of God,
a Child is born in the fullness of time.
No number of ornaments
Can disguise injustice, no amount of light
Can dispel despair. Instead,
Weapons and wars are reduced
To silence at the sound of a
Newborn Babe nursing at the Mother’s breast.

Good Christian, take heart! On this night
Peace is born, mercy flows, love abounds!
As surely as they did so long ago
For though latter-day Herods continue
To threaten and destroy innocence,
God Almighty and Most Merciful comes
Not when we are ready but when
We need God the most.