Ash Valentines
A Gift On Fools Day
One among us sublime in His father’s image
The forbidden fruit the Medusa in the Garden of Eden
Gave us the light the Son of God the Redeemer
Long after Adam and Eve were banished disgraced
The serpent offered the bite mankind was transformed
Latent evil manifests itself humankind unperfected
After the frankincense myrrh and gold
The cornucopia is spread for all to partake
A goat horn of plenty all season of continual masquerades
Good times roll the sambas rock the Mardi Gras festivals
Celebrations of life of love of joy are there on Valentine’s Day
On the same day the ash is crossed on the faithful foreheads
The pain of the past an acceptance a memory of suffering
An atonement for sin as the children of Eve embrace penance
Unmasking the Pharisees and the Sadduccees
Healing teaching the innocents awed by the miracles
Gathered singing hosannas waited paraded with palms
Hailed as a King He entered Jerusalem for peace on a donkey
Darkness alas the stage was set for the Triduum
The Son of God a kiss for thirty pieces of silver to Calvary
The sweat blood in the garden
The bloodied leather scourge
The thorn crown the reed scepter
The cross on the shoulder
The three falls the weeping women
Crucified body lance pierced
Laid down emotions spiked
The Redemption from the emergence of the ancestral sin
The collective guilt of humankind from the forbidden fruit
The Salvation seeded from Chaos blossomed on Annunciation
The Resurrection a mystery a glorious faith a gift on fools day
For the virtues of hope of love of fortitude a rebirth a joyful
Crying out from the earth womb on the third day for life eternal
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(C)NDR1.24.2018
Photo: Public Domain Garden of Eden
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens