First Monday of Advent

“What to me is the multitude

         of your sacrifices,

   says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt

         offerings of rams

   and the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of

         bulls,

   or of lambs, or of goats.” Isaiah 1:11

when we pay off

the school lunch debt

of children;

when our hands

are cracked and sore

from building bridges, not walls;

when our care for

the most vulnerable

is costlier than the gifts

under the tree,

   delight in us,

   O God,

   delight in us.

© 2018 Thom M. Shuman