christmas eve

 

Every year for years I've gotten a feeling of stillness on Christmas eve.

It is a stillness beyond stillness.

I interpret it as a mystical gift whereby I am allowed to see the creation itself, fields, trees, sky, towns, villages, mountains, hills, river, all the elements of nature, waiting in reverence for the newborn king.

I've felt a similar stillness once or twice after the communion ceremony at masses celebrated by Father Philip of the Dominicans.

This year I went outside several times waiting for the gift.

All evening and into the night, I kept checking for the gift I've grown so accustomed to receiving.

It did not come.

Instead there was rain and thunder over Ireland.

The creation is weeping for Ukraine, I thought to myself.