Set Every Peak and Valley Humming

With the word the Lord is coming!

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

We’re nearing the end of Advent, and I’ve been getting in a few more listens to People Look East. I once attempted my own cover of it, but this version from the Houston Chamber Choir is my favorite, truly stunning! Eleanor Farjeon’s lyrics are so beautiful to meditate on at this time of year.

If you caught my early Advent vlog, you’ll have already seen how I’ve been “trimming the hearth and setting the table.” I’ve also been making steady progress through my Advent TBR, including St. Ephrem’s Hymns on the Nativity…

In December when the nights are long,

daytime without limit shone forth to us.

In winter when the whole creation is gloomy,

the beauty that gladdened all of creation emerged.

In winter that made the earth barren,

virginity learned to give birth.

God can make the darkest and coldest days of the year the most fruitful of all days. In fact, He chose to do exactly that, to bring forth salvation “at midnight in Bethlehem in piercing cold.”

St. Ephrem’s focus on seeming opposites and contradictions is a good reminder that we need humility and grace and a rewiring of sorts to follow our incomprehensible God.

Glory to the Hidden One Who even to the mind

is utterly imperceptible to those who investigate Him.

But by His grace through [His] humanity

a nature never before fathomed is [now] perceived.

St. Louis de Montfort mentions St. Ephrem and dwells on this same hiddenness in True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Louis points out that Christ could have come to humanity in obvious pomp and majesty, but instead He came as a tiny newborn child, and He spent most of His years on earth living quietly and humbly, supporting and subject to His Mother. St. Louis de Montfort’s conclusion is that we too should devote ourselves to Mary as the simplest and sweetest way of reaching Christ.

Mary is the means our Lord chose to come to us and she is also the means we should choose to go to him, for she is not like other creatures who tend rather to lead us away from God than towards him, if we are over-attached to them. Mary’s strongest inclination is to unite us to Jesus, her Son, and her Son’s strongest wish is that we come to him through his Blessed Mother.

The sincerity and passion of St. Louis de Montfort seemed to shine across the centuries as I read this book; it was as if he was sitting and talking with me. The way he speaks of the power and humility of Mary and the importance of devotion to her is so inspiring.

A few years ago, my mother gave me a tiny antique statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary for Christmas, and I’ve kept it in my purse or wallet ever since. It was made in France, and I had understood it was common in the past for the faithful to carry such statues with them, but it was so meaningful to find St. Louis recommending exactly this practice! Devotion to Jesus in Mary is fundamentally interior, but exterior symbols can be helpful reminders. Whenever I look at that statue, I’ll be renewing my devotion to her, handing over not just my suffering and sins but also my prayers and works.

Since by this devotion we give to our Lord, through the hands of his holy Mother, all our good works, she purifies them, making them beautiful and acceptable to her Son. She purifies them of every taint of self-love and of that unconscious attachment to creatures which slips unnoticed into our best actions. Her hands have never been known to be idle or uncreative. They purify everything they touch.

Isn’t that just wonderful? “Her hands have never been known to be idle or uncreative.” I often feel uncertain and frustrated about what I create…even this blog post is an example! Is it too long? Did I include the right quotations? Is this the right use of my time? Is it doing anybody any good?

What I do and make seems so invariably and inevitably flawed and incomplete. What freedom, then, to hand over my efforts to Mary and know that she can perfect what I never could have perfected on my own!

Advent has been the perfect season to spend some time with Mary! Before I wrap up, here’s just one last line that one of you shared during reading sprints for our readalong of The Man Born to Be King by Dorothy Sayers. It’s spoken by Mary to the wise men in the first play…

“I feel as though I were holidng the whole world in my arms - they sky and the sea and the green earth, and all the seraphim. And then, again, everything comes quite simple and familiar, and I know that he is just my own dear son. If he grew to be wiser than Moses, holier than Aaron, or more splendid than Solomon, that would still be true. He will always be my baby, my sweet Jesus, whom I love - nothing can ever change that.”

Sayers’ epic play-cycle has also been a wonderful Advent read. If you missed the reading sprints, you can watch them below! It was so wonderful to hang out with two of my fellow co-hosts, Christy and Carla - and Cymbeline was really hamming it up in the background. 😹

As we enter the final vigil before Christmas Day, I wish you all the blessings, joy and peace of the season. ❤️🌟

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.