A Look at Christmas

Innermost

By Sister Maura Eichner, SSND

On the eve of hope, come, let us be
silent as joy, certain as change,
here before this Christmas tree.

Tassels of wind hang secretly
among berries and fruit and winter sun
that warmed the boughs of this tree.

Ghosts of butterflies delicately
shadow a branch, melt like snow
in the intimate dark of this tree.

A nest where robins were epiphany
clings to the flesh of the trunk
of this music and moon-gilded tree.

With carols and quiet let us be
reawakened to faith, purified,
giving as branches of this tree.

Circled about love’s mystery,
O for a moment fulfilled in light,
we are one in a word, a tree.

Read more about Sister Maura Eichner and her legacy on the Atlantic-Midwest Province website.

Betty Lou Jameson, Forbes Bowling, John Griffin and Betty Lou Jenkins standing by their class Christmas tree at St. Mary’s in Bryanstown, Maryland, c. 1951. Notice John’s adorable “Hopalong Cassidy” sweater.

Christmas in Sr. Augustus Dorr’s class at St. Mary’s in Bryanstown, Maryland, c. 1951.