Advent Hands : a meditative poem by Catherine Alder

I discovered this poem & used it for a short Advent Meditation, and thought it would be better taken even more slowly... a week at a time to savour each verse... with the addition of one or two visuals.

First, focus on this cave painting...

                                                                                                             

What do you notice ?

[ even in this small section of the cave, covered with so many hands, you can begin to see how individual they are, and the longer you look, the more you notice about them: right hands,left hands,
different shapes & sizes of fingers, and at least one in deep yellow ochre... ]

This Advent poem focuses first on the hands of Joseph... just imagine....

"I see the hands of Joseph,
Back and forth along bare wood they move.
There is worry in those working hands,
sorting out confusing thoughts with every stroke.
'How can this be, my beautiful Mary now with child?'
Rough with deep splinters, these hands,
small, painful splinters like tiny crosses embedded deeply in this choice to stay with her.
He could have closed his hands to her,
said 'No' and let her go to stoning.
But, dear Joseph opened both his heart and hands to this mother and her child.
Preparing in these days before
with working hands and wood pressed tight between them.
It is these rough hands
that will open and be the first to hold the child.  "


Among so many Madonna & Child paintings, it seems that artists have tended to leave Joseph out, let alone thought of painting him actually holding the baby... but Georges de la Tour painted this beautiful picture of Joseph with Jesus holding a light for him to work by.

next week I will post the second verse of this poem by Catherine Alder