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Christina Rossetti (by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) |
Chances
are that you sang the hymn “In the
Bleak Midwinter” this past Christmas. At
the end of these lyrics, poet Christina Rossetti
asks: “What can I give Him, poor as
I am? If I were a Shepherd, I would
bring a
lamb. If I were a Wise Man, I would do
my part. Yet what can I give him – Give my heart.”
When
Good Friday arrived, Rossetti continued her
soul-searching quest. In a poem by that same name,
she wrote: “Am I a stone, and not a
sheep, that
I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross, to number
drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss, and yet
not weep?”
After
comparing her perceived spiritual weakness to the
devoutness of Jesus’ most intimate disciples, Christina
begged to be smitten by Christ with free-flowing
devotion - even beyond the way that water
gushed from the rock that Moses smote in
Numbers 20:11.
Rossetti’s
biography indicates far
more piety than she gave herself credit for.
Possessing what’s been called “the old humility,”
she turned her face upward rather than
toward a vanity mirror.
Resources
https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-33-number-3/christina-rossetti-woman-all-seasons