The White Poinsettia

It wasn’t just a different color. It was so small. Since Christmas Day I have looked at that white poinsettia at every liturgy. At first it struck me as a humble plant among giants. But humility is more attitude than size.

My next thought was of John the Baptist:

…I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him…

He must increase, but I must decrease.

John thus placed himself in right relationship to Jesus the Messiah, as one who was sent, whose role would now diminish. The Lamb of God to whom he pointed, the Light of the World, makes the days longer and lessens the night.

            Thomas Merton writes about material things in the liturgy as speaking eloquently of God, and as a means or conduit for God’s grace.

            We must see all material things in the light of the mystery of the incarnation.

            We must reverence all creation because the Word was made flesh…

            The material things which surround us are holy because of our bodies,

                        which are sanctified by our souls,

                        which are sanctified by the presence of the indwelling word.

In this relationship the plant life behind the altar sparks our imagination and acts as an accessory to the liturgy itself. A noble role for a small white poinsettia.