Elizabeth Seton: Light and Grace
Candlelight on her Bible.
She reaches for the pen, writes in the margin
“to know Thy truth.”
To know, in the midst of
argument and controversy …
Candlelight flickers
as she underlines Eternity.
“Evenings alone: writing – Bible –
psalms in burning desires of heaven.”
Sunlight pours through
the schoolroom window,
lighting her face, the faces of the children.
It’s the light of faith –
light to know.
Grace fills her words to the sisters,
her dear ones, clutching her hand
as they walk the summer valley,
grace in the presence
“of you know who.”
Common sense lived out in love:
spinning wheel in the kitchen,
piano in the schoolroom,
folding open doors of the chapel –
grace to do.
Her words to a student far away:
“My heart has gone home with you.”
Home with us, with
light to know,
grace to do.
– Anne Higgins, DC, in Digging for God: Praying with Poetry, Resource Publications, 2010. Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers. www.wipfandstock.com
Catholic Schools Week continues through February 6, 2021.