O Oriens,
splendour lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumine sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis
O Dayspring,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Dayspring
21st December. The shortest day of the year.
The darkness of this crazy world is all too vivid, as, too, is the darkness that so many individuals have to live with.
And I long for that rising hope – that dayspring of life and light – not just for me, but for all those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
‘I believe that the Christian life is a reorientation, a turning eastwards and upstream, towards the source of life and light that is always flowing towards us.’ – Malcolm Guite
