May Twenty-Third

God is our Light; let us therefore continually reach up to Him for sunshine. There is no mine so far underground, no prison-cell so dark, no dwelling-place so obscure, but His presences can enter and His glory illumine.

Shadows to-day, while shadows show God's Will.
Light were not good except He send us light.
Shadows to-day, because this day is night
Whose marvels and whose mysteries fulfill
Their course and deep in darkness serve Him still.
Thou dim aurora, on the extremest height
Of airy summits wax not over bright;
Refrain thy rose, refrain thy daffodil.
Until God's Word go forth to kindle thee
And garland thee and bid thee stoop to us,
Blush in the heavenly choirs and glance not down:
To-day we race in darkness for a crown,
In darkness for beatitude to be,
In darkness for the city luminous
- Christina Rossetti

A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be, whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches toward him with half that certainty, as God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.
- William Law