Fr Billy Swan
Of all the planets, moons and stars
Of things ever heard and seen
My eyes were drawn to but one place
Of beauty blue and green
Yet all the skies and mountains
The oceans and the sea
Could not compare with who I loved
My pride and joy, humanity
With the Son and Spirit I made him
Created by us three
For our love could not contain itself
One holy Trinity
I created him in freedom
My love to accept or spurn
All things I can do bar one,
Force him love me in return
But man was stubborn in his ways
Wanting to be like me
Filled with pride and choosing
Forbidden fruit from a tree
I promised to be faithful
Now and to the end
Despite how much he grieved me
My beloved one, my friend
To Egypt I did follow him
And led him through the sand
To a place where milk and honey flow
Into the promised land
Through my prophets I called him back
From places he had strayed
To justice, peace and all good things
For which man first was made
How I love more than am loved!
How by so many I am not missed
How can so much sin and good
In humans co-exist?
I hungered and thirsted for their love
Gently knocking at their door
Thinking always how I could
Love them even more
So I sent them my beloved Son
To be closer than ever I’ve been
I put myself into their hands
To save them from their sin
In Mary’s womb I came to be
What I never was before you see
Stooping down becoming man
And making man divinity
Man cannot see God and live
My glory’s brightness would be too much
So I turned its volume down in Christ
For him to hear and see and touch
No president, king or queen
Was present at his birth
Just an ox, an ass, some shepherds
The poor of all the earth
For so I always willed it
To include the greatest and the small
The rich, the poor, the slave, the free
My kingdom not for some, but for all
Have you ever taken the chance to love
Become dependent on another?
To take the risk in loving first
As brother, sister or lover?
If so you see the risk I took
To be accepted or forsaken
So my Son came to the world
The greatest risk ever taken
Tiny limbs on wisps of straw
Fragile, precious beneath a star
Who would think that one so young
Could challenge weapons, bombs and war?
O that they would turn to me
And all become one in him
It’s all I want this Christmas
And end to killing, hunger and sin
For this I wait and work and weep
Asking man to walk with me
For then he would be happy
At last he would be free
So as you listen to these words
Written from above
Perhaps you know more my dream
And something more of love
Wherever you are this Christmas
At home or far away
Spare a thought for what it means
My dream and for it pray
Blessings on all who live
I know you all my name
Wherever you go I will be there
I love you all the same
And as I look upon the earth
At beauty green and blue
The joy of Christmas is because
I see my Son in you.