\u2018Hail, space for the uncontained God\u2019 But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions She was free Aren\u2019t there annunciations She had been a child who played, ate, slept Called to a destiny more momentous to bear in her womb but who was God. \u2013 Denise Levertov<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Hail, space for the uncontained God\u2019 From the\u00a0Agathistos\u00a0Hymn,\u00a0Greece,\u00a0VIc We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, almost always a lectern, a book; always the tall lily. Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings, the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering, whom she acknowledges, a guest. But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[322,57],"class_list":["post-114573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nFrom the\u00a0Agathistos\u00a0<\/em>Hymn<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>Greece<\/em>,\u00a0VIc<\/em>
\nWe know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
\nalmost always a lectern, a book; always
\nthe tall lily.
\nArrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
\nthe angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
\nwhom she acknowledges, a guest.<\/p>\n
\ncourage.
\nThe engendering Spirit
\ndid not enter her without consent.
\nGod waited.<\/p>\n
\nto accept or to refuse, choice
\nintegral to humanness.<\/p>\n
\nof one sort or another
\nin most lives?
\nSome unwillingly
\nundertake great destinies,
\nenact them in sullen pride,
\nuncomprehending.
\nMore often
\nthose moments
\nwhen roads of light and storm
\nopen from darkness in a man or woman,
\nare turned away from
\nin dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
\nand with relief.
\nOrdinary lives continue.
\nGod does not smite them.
\nBut the gates close, the pathway vanishes.<\/p>\n
\nlike any other child \u2013 but unlike others,
\nwept only for pity, laughed
\nin joy not triumph.
\nCompassion and intelligence
\nfused in her, indivisible.<\/p>\n
\nthan any in all of Time,
\nshe did not quail,
\nonly asked
\na simple, \u2018How can this be?\u2019
\nand\u00a0gravely, courteously,
\ntook to heart the angel\u2019s reply,
\nperceiving instantly
\nthe astounding ministry she was offered:<\/p>\n
\nInfinite weight and lightness; to carry
\nin hidden, finite inwardness,
\nnine months of Eternity; to contain
\nin slender vase of being,
\nthe sum of power \u2013
\nin narrow flesh,
\nthe sum of light.
\nThen bring to birth,
\npush out into air, a Man-child
\nneeding, like any other,
\nmilk and love \u2013<\/p>\n