The flip side is that this is the very day and night that light begins to increase.
As we recognize the patterns--and we turn a certain way,
even when the path is darkest we are faced to greet the day.
Thomas Aquinas, who many take to be the most important Christian theologian in the West, was also someone who took religion with a grain of salt. He knew that religion, theology, cover up as much as they reveal. But also that they have the capacity to reveal so much.
Many folks who love to mark the solstice don't have much use for religion. Many religious folks don't have much use for solstices.
Ain't that a shame.
Aquinas, who wrote volumes and volumes and volumes of theology, also tried getting to the heart of spirituality in simpler ways--like the two lines below:
I once asked a plant, "What does light talk about."
"I'm not sure," said the plant, "but it makes me grow."
A blessed Solstice to you!
