Source of Divine Light, Emmanuel, God with us,
Your radiant love illuminated our waiting world
With the surprise of your Bethlehem birth.

Each year since then we celebrate this astonishing event,
rejoicing in your coming anew, not as a newborn Babe,
but as a hidden presence of divinity contained within each of us.

To our greatest astonishment, we have become your dwelling place.
We are now your Bethlehem.

Now you are Treasure birthed in the secret place of our soul.
Now you are Light gleaning through our gestures of generosity.
N ow you are Hope radiating inside the core of our courage.
Now you are Joy shining into the dark caves of our gloom.
Now you are Peace glowing quietly in the crevice of our anxiety.
Now you are Love brilliantly reflected within our kindness.

O Christ, Light of all lights, Star of all stars,
dweller within these human homes of ours,
open our wandering minds and hesitant hearts
So your endless goodness radiates more completely in us.

We welcome you again and again, with gratitude and trust,
not only in this Christmas season of remembrance and celebration
but all through the New Year that awaits us.

By: Joyce Rupp —-Catholic Cemeteries Association