The Visitation

A rosewood angel from Madagascar. Today we read of the Visitation and Elizabeth's joy at meeting Mary her cousin.
O King—
King and Desire of the Nations,
made one by the cornerstone
of your coming,
of your being.
How can it be?
The cornerstone rejected,
misused as rubble for rocks and stones
to hurl and smash.
They didn’t understand then
(and often we don’t now)
that cornerstones are
for fastening onto,
for building up,
for foundations and transformation.
Come, O King,
Desire of the nations,
Cornerstone.
Save for us, formed of clay,
the opportunity of being transformed by your peace.

From Hasten the Kingdom: Praying the O Antiphons of Advent by Mary Winifred, C.A. (Liturgical Press, 1996).
Dec 21 left work at work to be at Royal College of Music in good time for the orchestral rehearsal. Chatted to Peter Stevens the King's senior organ scholar who remembered our visit to the King's loft. He was playing the Harrison orgna in the great hall of the college which has paintings of all the directors including Willcocks and Dyson. King's choir did not rehearse with us and Philip had flu. Peter was worried about the Albert Hall organ but he did excellently at the concert. In the break I went to the Science museum and enjoyed the Wellcome section on ourselves and the flight section. To the ice rink at Natural History museum and listened to the handbells from the Christian Scientists whose church is decorated with lots of trees and lights. They were busy giving out sweets and greeting people. Had a cappucino on the balcomy over the rink and British Airways lady gave me mulled wine.
The Vivaldi and Elgar went really well and so did the carols. King's sang really well especially Rubbra's "Dormi Jesu" and Willcocks "Infant king". Very atmospheric arrangement of "Est ist ein ros" by Sangstrom and Gardner My dancing day. Part Bogoroditse Dyevo as first encore. Elgar's Sursum Corda was splendid and enjoyed Tchaikovsky Waltz of the flowers from the Nutcracker. Got a 52 bus straight away adn Liz picked me up at East Croydon. Grandma home at 7 p.m. New dark red carpet looks great!