Wood engraving by Simon Brett (British b. 1943) in The Reader’s Digest Bible (illustrated edition) 1990
Phillip Medhurst
Wisdom from a Gnostic Sage
Tag: virgin
Jul 13, 2016
The Apocalypse Revealed 14
As in the case of Abraham, faith – in a promise of immortality as yet visibly unfulfilled – is superior to obedience to the Law. While access to the Commandments was through the procreative line of Israel, faith involved a renunciation of all rights proceeding from membership of that procreative line – as in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac and his faith in an implied promise of resurrection. The New Israel of the 144,000 sealed in Revelation are described symbolically as virgins undefiled by women. That is, they have renounced salvation by means of the procreative line. It is these who will reign with Christ on earth for 1000 years – that is, for a time equivalent to the post-lapsarian life-span of Adam, thereby putting right his flawed dominion.
Feb 16, 2016
Mater Dolorosa
The pains of childbirth, then of dispossession,
A leaping heart, then steady retrogression
Was all angelic flutters came to bring.
Fair salutations bore a farewell sting.
And Death’s dark angel did not pass my door,
But slammed the board, demanding more and more.
My God, you owe this to me: let me see
Wherefore my child has now forsaken me.
I want to see him rise to tear the veil,
And borne by angels his kind Father hail,
As his bejewelled banner he unfurls,
His blood its rubies and my tears its pearls.
Feb 11, 2016
The Virginal Conception
Mary, maid and mother – both –
Conceives divinity.
(Fire, we’re told, does not consume
Her pure virginity).
You who tread on holy ground
Put on simplicity.
If He is to be born, God needs
All your complicity.
Feb 11, 2016
Annunciation
As swift as eye-of-reason’s blink
Consent, in waiting, parted lips.
As quick as pulse could leap to beat
Of wing, her cry let fly to air
Where word met Word. Thunder unrolled –
Salvation’s sentence in pursuit
Of spirit’s lightning dart to soul
Pre-hushed. Her heart, inviolate still,
Now known, knew all. So All the valley
Filled, and pure Love’s river swelled,
Then brimmed to shed its tide on time.
Phillip Medhurst 