When Christ was in His cradle

When I said Mass at Christmas
And candles were aglow,
I saw a white old woman,
Two thousand years ago:
My very great grandmother,
Who spun me flesh and bone,
Who felt my fingers aching
In the atoms of her own,
In whom my eyes were shining,
However far away,
When Christ was in His cradle
And it was Christmas Day!

That's a poem by Fr. Leonard Feeney. The older I get the more past centuries seem to collapse like a telescope until I feel very close to the people who walked the earth when Christ did, and this seems to express it. I used to envy them in a way; now I know that what they experienced was not for them alone. Mary's awe and joy when she first saw His face-- that was for the whole human race.