TO OUR LADY ON DECEMBER 8th

TO OUR LADY ON DECEMBER 8^th [1]

Down in the courtyard

flakes fall on your shrine,

a white oasis in our winter.

Snowy pines enclose you

in a cathedral.

Everywhere darkness stretches

like an immense grave.

Stars hide

the sky is moonless.

But below in the courtyard

you burn like a candle,

your flame travelling light years

beyond the pines.

Sister M Lucina

                                                                                                                          Marian Library Collection

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[1] 8 December: Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This doctrine, defined by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1854, teaches that Mary, after Adam and Eve, was the only human being to be born without the stain of original sin, inherited from our first parents.