Edgar Allen Poe and the Blessed Virgin Mary

Everyone's heard of Edgar Allen Poe, the famously troubled 19th century author who wrote the Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Premature Burial and much more. It's perhaps less well-known that he wrote a "hymn" to the Blessed Virgin Mary, with reference to the Angelus. Here it is:

“Hymn”

At morn–at noon–at twilight dim–

Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!

In joy and woe–in good and ill–

Mother of God, be with me still!

When the Hours flew brightly by,

And not a cloud obscured the sky,

My soul, lest it should truant be,

Thy grace did guide to thine and thee

Now, when storms of Fate o’ercast

Darkly my Present and my Past,

Let my future radiant shine

With sweet hopes of thee and thine.

I like that, and if you think the Mother of Our Lord is Semiramis, you're a fool.

LSP 

Advent IV or Yule?

You have a choice today. You can celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent or you can celebrate the Winter Solstice, which pagans like to call Yule.

Being a Christian, I celebrated Advent IV and reflected on the Virgin Mary, who some people think is "an ordinary Jewish girl," or maybe a dead Roman Catholic. I'd say she wasn't that ordinary and that she intercedes for us in heaven. That would make her catholic but not dead. Others, like Mr. Chick, think she's a Babylonian demon. That's stupid as well as blasphemous.

But that's just me. Some, perhaps many of you, would rather celebrate Yule today and dance around fires while praying to the Horned God.

Go right ahead, but don't say you weren't warned when you wake up inside a Wicker Man. And it's on fire.

God bless,

LSP