66 - Hanukah

WE MUST BECOME BECOME MACCABEES: A HANUKAH TALE

Hanukah is a time of miracles. It commemorates how a small band of the faithful, the Maccabees, succeeded against enormous odds to reclaim the Temple in Jerusalem from the Syrian-Greeks.

In our own lives, we often face challenges that feel as enormous as the ones the Maccabees confronted. It may be illness, the loss of a loved one, changed family circumstances, the effort to find new employment. We feel small, pitted against a world that seems huge and cruel. We must fight, as the Maccabees did, to regain our faith and a sense of wholeness and peace in our lives. We must find the strength to re-dedicate ourselves to lives filled with holiness and firm knowledge of God’s affection.

Hanukah begins each year when we light the first candle and place our Hanukah menorah in the window to broadcast the miracle.

Sixty-Six

Hanukah
For E.G.P., with All Manner of Drums

How quickly are the candles consumed,
Brief, miraculous lights;
Lights only for glory and redemption,
Lights only for Your praise and honor.

In warm arms I held your tiny body,
And lit candles for eight nights;
So long ago, so swift a time ago,
Years’ memories are blurred.

Here, even before you could know,
Here in my arms, the candles’ glow
Told you the story of the miracle,
The song of the Holy One.